FireflySerenity Series
by ficwriterjet
Summary: The crew becomes more like a family after the events of Serenity, mostly focusing on Mal's changing relationship with both Simon and River. WARNING: M/M and M/F spanking of adults.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Notes: This story takes place about a month after the movie Serenity ends. My story has some MAJOR spoilers for things that happen in the movie, so if you haven't seen the movie, my advice would be to see the movie before reading this (on DVD in the US on Dec 20th). A big thanks to Chrisie for helping me stay true to the Firefly universe. Thanks to Jenna for getting me thinking about Simon in the first place. And thanks to everyone who kept encouraging me to write it by giving me wonderful feedback. Written December 2005.

The Orange Death

Mal sat in the pilot's chair of Serenity thinking about and missing Wash while he watched the stars go by. He felt more then heard a presence behind him, and turned to find River at the bridge door looking out at the stars too. He said quietly, "It's a mite late for you to be about."

River didn't take her eyes off the stars and said, "Simon and Kaylee are making noises again."

Mal nodded absently and looked back out at the stars as he said, "Have a seat if you like."

River went over to the co-pilots chair and sat down. A comfortable silence fell over the cabin. Ten minutes later River said, "She won't like any of them." 

Mal looked over at River and said, "What?"

"Zoe."

Mal thought about that, and realized what River was talking about. They had interviewed three pilots so far, and Zoe had had problems with all of them. Mal nodded in agreement. "Most likely, but we need one just the same."

"But you're looking in the wrong direction."

Mal turned to River and said, "You got a suggestion for where I should be lookin'?"

River shook her head no. Mal shrugged and said, "Then we're headed to Newview."

Silence settled over the cabin once again. Half an hour later Mal noticed River's head drooping. He said quietly, "Hey."

River's head jerked up and she focused on him. He said, "Time for bed."

River took one last look at the stars and got up to head for the quarters she shared with her brother Simon.

The next morning at breakfast, after everyone except Jayne was done eating, Mal cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "We should reach Newview in about six hours. It's way too close to the Core for my taste, but this guy, Bannon, says he can pilot the ship, and his references check out."

Jayne said with his mouth full, "What was wrong with that last guy again?"

Zoe said, "It took him three tries just to get Serenity started."

Mal nodded, but knew the real reason they didn't take him was because he had made a joke about toys on the bridge when he saw Wash's dinosaurs. Mal said, "Simon, did you get a response from the Doc at the local hospital?"

Simon nodded, "She called this morning. She's willing to sell us the medications that I need to restock the ship at a fair price."

Mal nodded. "You're sure she didn't recognize you?"

"Pretty sure."

"Well are you sure or aren't you? If you aren't, then we'll wait for the next stop to restock."

"We need these medications now. We used up most of out extra stock when we…"

The room was silent for a few seconds. Simon continued, "At any rate, it's gone and knowing our propensity for danger, I would highly recommend we get the medications now whether she recognized me or not. But I don't think she did."

Mal looked at Zoe for her opinion. She gave a slight nod. Mal said, "Alright, but you'll need to take Jayne."

Jayne said with obvious irritation, "You said I could stay. If I'm going with the Doc, who's gonna watch…"

Jayne's eyes darted to River's and then his voice got a little more quiet at he looked back at Mal and said, "….the girl."

Jayne nodded his head towards River in what he thought was a subtle way.

River looked over at him and said, "I could beat you with both hands tied behind my back."

Simon said with mild disapproval, "River."

River looked back down at her plate and didn't comment.

Mal said, "I'm thinking Kaylee and Inara are better suited to keeping our little albatross both happy and non violent then you are."

Jayne glared at River and said, "The only reason you got the better of me was 'cause I was tryin' NOT to hurt you."

River made a face at Jayne, and would have stuck out her tongue at him if Mal hadn't said, "Enough! Be ready to go in six."

Jayne gave a glare to River and a slight nod of acceptance to Mal. Then he grabbed three biscuits off the table and walked away.

Mal looked at Zoe and said, "Wake me when we're in orbit."

"Yes Sir."

Mal left, and the rest of the crew went about their usual business. Mal went and found Jayne. He was checking the tires on the mule to make sure it was in good working order. Jayne looked up at Mal as he approached. Mal said, "Do I have to go over what I expect when I send you out to protect one of the crew?"

Jayne stuck a biscuit in his mouth and said, "Nope." As he turned back to checking the vehicle.

Mal nodded and walked to his quarters.

Six and a half hours later Kaylee, Inara, and River were waving good bye, and closing the hatch on the ship. Mal and Zoe headed off in one direction on the hover sled, while Jayne and Simon headed in the other on the mule.

Mal and Zoe arrived half an hour early at the bar where they were scheduled to meet Bannon. Mal looked around the bar and then at Zoe with a question in his eyes. The bar only had one other occupant besides the bartender. Mal had never seen a bar so empty. Zoe shrugged to indicate she didn't understand what was going on either. Mal went up to the bartender and Zoe followed. Mal smiled and said, "You got any ale here in this fine establishment?"

The bartender looked over both of their faces carefully and said, "As long as you've got platinum and ain't sick, I got ale."

Mal put down some money and said, "Two."

The bartender inspected the money and then gave them the beer. Mal took a sip and said, "Aahhh, now that really hits the spot don't it?"

Zoe swallowed her sip and said, "That it does Sir."

Mal looked back at the bartender and said, "Seems this place is a mite empty when you're serving ale as good as this."

The bartender said, "Where you been the past month? Ain't you heard 'bout the sickness?"

Mal lost some of his smile and said, "Sickness? No, we just arrived."

"Been 'bout a month now, and they still ain't found a cure. Two thirds of this town is dead."

Zoe said, "There were no warnings at the dock. It's standard Alliance protocol to post warnings of quarantine at all docks."

The bartender said, "What dock you at?"

"Blue A."

"There was quarantine signs up yesterday when I went by. Maybe you wasn't lookin'."

Mal and Zoe looked at each other. Zoe said, "Wait for Bannon, or round up the crew?"

Mal said, "Could be a set up."

Zoe nodded in agreement and then said, "Could be the sign fell."

"We wait."

Jayne drove Simon to the local hospital and parked the mule. Simon got off the back and looked expectantly at Jayne who was just sitting there. Simon said, "Are you coming?"

Jayne looked annoyed and got up as he said, "Yeah, I'm comin'."

Simon pointed at a large metal box that was strapped to the back of the mule. He said, "Bring the container for the supplies."

Jayne unbuckled the straps that were holding the box to the mule, and picked it up. He followed Simon into the hospital. The second they walked through the front door, Simon could tell that something was very wrong. There were sick people everywhere, and there were cots set up for patients in the hallway. At first Simon wondered if maybe they had come in the emergency entrance instead of the main entrance. He looked around and saw the front desk. He walked to it and a tired looking nurse got a new chart out and said, "Where has it started?"

Simon said, "Excuse me?"

The nurse said, "The rash. Where has it started?"

Jayne leaned down to Simon and said, "You got a rash?"

Simon gave Jayne an exasperated look and said, "No of course not." He turned back to the nurse and said, "I'm sorry, I think you have me mistaken for someone else. I have an appointment to see Dr. Muriel Larsen."

The nurse looked up from her chart and took a long look at Simon. She didn't take her eyes off him but picked up the phone and said, "Dr. Larsen, there is someone here to see you. A Mr….."

Simon filled in for her, "Dr. Zachary Milton."

"A Dr. Zachary Milton."

The nurse listened for a moment and then hung up. She said, "The doctor will be down to see you in a minute."

Simon and Jayne looked around while they waited. After a few seconds Jayne leaned down to Simon and said, "Hospitals give me the creeps."

Simon ignored him. He was absorbed looking around at the patients. He could see that most of them had the same affliction in various stages. But it was something he had never seen before. Simon had an almost photographic memory, and he knew what he was seeing was something new. The people all had patches of skin covered in an orange colored rash. Some people were almost entirely covered, and others only had small patches. Simon could tell that the people who were entirely covered were seriously ill, and a few looked close to death. The doctor in him had to know more.

A few minutes later a short brunette woman with pale skin walked into the room. She was wearing a white lab coat. She immediately spotted Simon and gave him a smile. She stuck out her hand to shake and said, "You must be Dr. Milton."

Simon smiled, nodded, and shook. "Dr. Larsen I presume."

"Call me Muriel."

"Zach. And this is my assistant Jayne."

Muriel nodded in acknowledgement of Jayne and said, "Why don't you two come up to my office."

Simon nodded and followed her. Soon they were in a small office, and Jayne set the box down and sat on top of it to wait. Simon and Muriel sat on opposite sides of her desk. She said, "We received your list. Here is a copy of it, and I've put a star next to the items we can't provide for you."

Simon looked it over and was pleased. They had almost everything they needed. Each item had a price next to it, and he said, "Everything looks to be in order. Your prices are quite reasonable. I truly appreciate your generosity."

Muriel nodded and said, "Actually I did have somewhat of an ulterior motive for selling you these items at such a reasonable rate."

Jayne tensed at that. Simon just continued to smile and said, "What might that be?"

"We have discovered a new virus. I've been working on trying to find a vaccine for the past month to no avail. I could really use a fresh opinion on the matter."

Simon nodded eagerly. "The orange rash I saw in the lobby?"

She nodded. Simon couldn't wait to hear about it. "Let's finish our transaction, and then I'll be happy to take a look."

Muriel nodded and stood. She said, "If you gentlemen will follow me."

Simon and Jayne both followed her. They walked down the hall and to another door. There was a guard at the door, and Muriel showed the guard her ID. They all went into a supply room.

Soon the metal box Jayne was carrying was full. Simon pulled out a pouch of platinum, and counted out the correct amount. He handed it over to the supply clerk. As they walked out of the supply room, Simon turned to Muriel and said, "Thank you very much."

Then he turned to Jayne and said, "I'm going to be here for a while. Why don't you take the supplies back to the ship, and then come back to get me."

Jayne shook his head. "That ain't the plan."

Simon looked at Muriel and said, "could you excuse us for just one minute?"

Muriel nodded and walked down the hall a few feet.

Simon lowered his voice and said, "You said hospitals make you uncomfortable. I'm going to be here for at least two more hours, and if you wait here for me you're going to be bored. Just take the supplies back, and then come back to get me."

Jayne shook his head more violently and said, "Mal said I was to watch over you."

Simon rolled his eyes and said, "Fine, you can stay, but you need to keep quiet and out of the way."

Jayne said, "We ain't supposed to stay at all. We got the supplies, so let's be on our way."

Simon sighed and said, "I'm sure you can't understand the significance of a new virus, but I do, and I'm staying until I've heard about it."

"I understand enough to know if there's some kind of disease goin' round, then that's an even better reason to high tail it out of here!"

Simon was tired of arguing. He said, "Do what you want. I'm staying."

Jayne opened his mouth to argue, but Simon was already walking towards Muriel with a smile. She took them to a large lab, and Jayne staked out a spot against the wall where he once again sat on the metal box full of supplies. Muriel showed Simon some pictures of people with various stages of the disease. She said, "The first case was almost a month ago. We had thirty-six cases on the same day. All of them were children who went to the same school. But the incubation period for the virus is about a week, so by the time we saw our first case, those children had been in contact with their family members, and then those family members had been in contact with their coworkers."

"So it takes a week for them to start showing signs of illness, but they are actually contagious well before that?"

"Yes."

Simon said, "How is it transmitted?"

"Before the rash appears, it is somewhat difficult, and can only be spread through bodily fluids. But once the rash appears, the rash itself is contagious, and anyone who touches it can easily become infected themselves."

"Really? Fascinating. Was the original carrier found?"

"We believe the original carrier of the virus was a stray dog. All the children who were infected had pet this dog during recess. The local law enforcement has been trying to find the dog all month. It's most likely long dead."

"Are any other animals sick? Family pets or livestock?"

"No, we haven't had any cases of that."

Simon shook his head and said, "Then why do you think it was the dog?"

"Because all the children said he had an orange color under his fur. They said that when they were petting him, a kind of orange dust came off him."

Simon thought quietly for a minute and then said, "Were there some kids at the school who didn't get sick?"

Muriel nodded. "Three. They've been tested. They aren't carrying it."

"What about the teachers?"

"All but one got it, and he wasn't a carrier either."

"What's the survival rate once they have it?"

Muriel sighed and said, "Once the rash starts, patients start to feel slightly ill, but within a week of having the rash, they have lung problems. I would say one out of every three people who have gotten to the last stage of the rash have survived to see the rash going away. They are left with an odd orange scarring around the abdomen."

Simon said, "Have you gotten it quarantined?"

"I wish I could say yes. We tried, but I'm not sure if it has gotten out of the city. Most likely it has spread to some of the outlying countryside. There are three major cities on this moon, and I'm certain that the other two have not been infected yet. I'm in daily contact with doctors from both hospitals, and they have had no cases of it."

Simon nodded and thought for a minute. He said, "Can I see samples of it?"

Muriel led him over to a microscope, and they spent the next hour looking at various slides and discussing what she had tried in the way of a vaccine so far.

Mal and Zoe had moved to a table with their drinks, and they had almost finished them when a man walked in. He was tall with black curly hair and dark brown skin. He had a beard, and was wearing dark clothes. He scanned the room and walked directly up to Mal. He said, "Are you Malcolm Reynolds?"

Mal stood up and put his hand out as he said, "That's right. You must be Ray Bannon." 

Ray shook his hand, waved at the bartender, and sat down. Mal sat too, and as soon as the bartender brought over a drink, Mal said, "I hear tell you piloted for Fatty Marks."

"For two years."

"Why aren't you still there?"

"Because he was a mean son of a bitch, and I got tired of it."

Mal laughed and said, "Fatty ain't nice, that's true enough. Did you leave on good terms?"

"Good enough. I stayed until he could find another pilot."

Zoe said, "Have you ever flown a Firefly?"

"Yes Ma'am. Back eight years ago I flew one for about six months. Very nice ships those Firefly's."

"What have you been doing since leaving Fatty?"

"I came home to visit with my family. I had some money put away, so I thought I could stay here for about a year."

Mal said, "Fatty said you left three months ago."

Ray nodded, "That's right."

Zoe said, "What changed?"

"I came home to see my folks and my sister. They're all dead now."

Mal and Zoe looked at each other. Ray said, "The orange death took them about two weeks ago."

Zoe said, "The orange death?"

"The epidemic. I'm sure you saw the quarantine signs. Actually I was surprised you didn't have me meet you at your ship instead of coming out here."

Mal sat back a little to put more distance between himself and Ray. He said, "Did you get sick along with your family?"

Ray lifted up his shirt to show them both some orange scarring on his stomach. He said, "I had it, but I got over it. The doctor said I was one of the lucky ones, and that I must have been in excellent health to start with, because only one in four who gets it lives to tell about it. He assured me I wasn't contagious any more."

Mal nodded and said, "Have you ever flown in combat?"

Ray gave him a disbelieving look and said, "I told you I flew for Fatty. We were getting shot at every other day."

Mal nodded and said, "Okay, excuse us for a minute."

Mal looked at Zoe and nodded his head towards the door. Ray stayed at the table, and Zoe and Mal went to stand by the door to talk out of earshot. Mal said, "Seems worth a try."

Zoe shook her head. "I don't like him."

Mal gave her a disbelieving look and said, "Why not?"

"Can't put my finger on it, I just don't like him."

Mal sighed and took a minute to think about how to say what he knew needed to be said. He put a hand on his friends shoulder and said, "Zoe….. we need a new pilot. You haven't liked any of them so far, and I'm thinkin' that's gonna continue."

Zoe shrugged off his hand and said with anger, "It's your decision Sir."

Zoe walked out to wait in the hover sled while Mal stayed where he was, feeling both sad for her and annoyed with her at the same time. He took a deep breath and went back to Ray. He said, "We'll give you a try. If you can come to the docks right now, we'll let you do a test drive. Then if everything goes well, we'll take you on. And no offence to your doctor, but I'm gonna have our doc check you out before I let you anywhere near my crew."

Ray stood, "That's understandable."

Mal started walking towards the door and said, "Assumin' everything goes well, when would you be ready to ship out? I'm anxious to get away from this place."

Ray said, "I could have my things packed and ready to go first thing tomorrow morning."

Mal nodded and thought that would be good enough. As they got close to the hover sled Mal said, "Does Fatty still have that horrible little monkey, Shiver?"

Ray nodded and said, "He has a monkey, but its name is Silver. I wanted to shoot that thing more then once. Always crapping on things, and stealing food."

Mal had talked personally to Fatty about Ray, and he had gotten a picture of him, so he was pretty sure this really was Ray, but he was still happy that Ray passed his little test. He said, "Right, my mistake."

Zoe refused to acknowledge anyone's presence, but as soon as Mal and Ray were aboard, she started up the hover sled, and headed back to the ship.

They got back to Serenity, and were greeted by Kaylee and River. Mal said, "You girls stay back now, I need the doc to check out the new pilot before anyone gets too close."

Kaylee said, "Um…..Well.…. That might be a problem."

"What might be a problem?"

Kaylee looked to River who just looked back at her. Kaylee said, "Simon. He ain't exactly back yet."

Mal said, "Did they call? Was there some trouble?"

Kaylee shook her head no. Mal took his short wave radio off his holster belt and pushed the button to talk. He said, "Jayne are you there?"

A few seconds past before Jayne answered, "I'm here."

"That's funny, 'cause I'm lookin' around and I don't see you here."

Jayne, not getting it, said, "That's cause I'm HERE at the hospital like I said."

"You both should have been back well before us. What happened?"

Jayne said, "The doc has some kind of hard on for figurin' out about some virus. Or maybe it's for the other doc. She's kinda pretty in a…. Doctor sorta way. Either way, he said he ain't goin' back yet."

Mal glared at no one in particular. "Put him on." 

Jayne smiled at Mal's tone, and couldn't wait to see Simon chewed out. He saw both Simon and Muriel on the other side of the lab and walked over to them. They turned to see him coming, and Jayne smiled mean as he handed Simon the radio. He said, "Captain wants to talk to you."

Simon sighed and took the radio. He looked to Muriel and said, "Excuse me please."

Simon walked over to the other side of the lab, and Jayne followed. Simon pushed the button and said, "Yes Mal?"

"Get your ass back to the ship right now."

Simon bristled at the tone. He said, "This City is in desperate need of help. They've lost almost half of their doctors recently, and they have an epidemic that has killed off one third of their population. I would like to stay here for a few more hours to see if I can help."

"This ain't a discussion. Leave. Now."

"I really don't see why you're having such a problem with this. We're in a sterile lab, I'm a highly trained doctor, and I'm good at what I do. Don't you think we should try to help people out when we can?"

Mal's voice came back, "Jayne?"

Jayne quickly yanked the radio out of Simon's hands and said with glee, "Yeah?"

"Help the doc come 'round to my way of thinkin', and be back here in less then twenty minutes."

"It'll be my pleasure."

Jayne put the radio back in his pocket and smiled at Simon. "Please tell me you ain't gonna go quiet like."

Simon knew for sure that Jayne could have him unconscious with one punch, and that he would have fun doing it. Simon said, "I'll go back, and try to talk some sense into the Captain. I'm just going to go tell Muriel that I'll be back later."

Jayne watched Simon walk back to Muriel and muttered, "Yeah, that'll happen."

Simon walked back over to Muriel and said, "I'm very sorry Muriel, but I'm going to have to leave for a little while and take the supplies back to the ship. I'm going to try very hard to come back here in a few hours to help you out some more. If I can't come back, I'll keep in contact with you and help you go over your work."

Muriel looked down and nodded. Then she said, "I have a confession for you."

Simon was confused and it showed. She looked up at him and said, "I know who you are. You're Dr. Simon Tam."

Simon was both surprised and a little scared. She quickly said, "I'm sorry, but we've lost so many doctors, and when you contacted me for supplies….. I recognized your face, and I knew you would be able to help us. That's why I didn't tell you about the quarantine, and I had the signs at the docks taken down. We need help Dr. Tam. You've worked at the best most advanced hospital the Alliance has. There isn't anyone else on this moon that can bring us that kind of experience and knowledge. Please stay and help me before two thirds of the people on this moon are dead. I can pay you….with supplies or with whatever money our hospitals can collect."

Simon looked behind him to see Jayne impatiently waiting by the box of supplies on the other side of the lab. Simon made a decision. He couldn't just leave this alone, no matter what. He said quietly, "I promise I'll be back tonight, and I'll stay here until we find a vaccine, but you'll most likely have to hide me from the Alliance if they show up, and maybe even from my other crew mates."

Muriel looked at him with gratitude and said, "Thank you Dr. Tam. I'll be forever grateful."

Simon nodded and said, "It's Simon, and I'll see you late tonight, or maybe as late as early tomorrow morning."

Simon walked back over to Jayne. Jayne picked up the box and they both walked out to the mule.

Back on Serenity Mal put his radio back on his holster belt with irritation. Kaylee turned to him and said, "Don't be too angry Cap'n, it's got to be hard on Simon not to be able to do what he was trained to do."

"He can do his doctorin' here where he ain't gonna be picking up some sickness to bring back for all of us."

Kaylee didn't like the way her two favorite men fought, and she could usually see both sides of their arguments, and see the sense in why each of them did what they did. She just nodded and looked away knowing Mal had to see to his crew before anyone else.

Mal turned to Ray. He said, "We've got about fifteen minutes to do a test run."

Ray followed Mal to the bridge. Mal looked back to see if Zoe was following too, and was pleased to see she was. He assumed this meant that she had cooled down some.

Fifteen minutes later they had landed again and Zoe had to admit to herself that Ray was a fine pilot. Mal said, "As long as the doc gives you a clean bill of health, you're hired."

Ray nodded and said, "Good."

Mal turned to Zoe. "Show Ray where the infirmary is, and keep him company until the Doc gets back."

Zoe nodded and said to Ray, "This way."

Mal went back to the cargo bay and looked around. Everyone else had gone to do other work, so he was alone. He decided to look over the hover sled while he was waiting for Simon and Jayne to get back. As soon as he heard the cargo door start to open he walked over to it. He stood there with his arms crossed waiting. Jayne drove the mule to it's usual spot in the cargo bay, and got off. Simon got off wearily not looking forward to the confrontation he was sure was about to happen. Mal kept his eyes on Simon but said to Jayne, "Jayne, take the supplies to the lab."

Jayne, looked from Simon to Mal and said, "Now?"

"Now."

Jayne tossed down his goggles in annoyance that he was going to miss the scene, and unstrapped the metal box from the back of the mule. He carried it away muttering to himself about always missing the good parts.

Simon took of his goggles and put them on the mule. He looked at Mal expectantly. Mal said, "Have you completely taken leave of your senses?"

Simon said with disdain, "Not likely."

Mal reached him in two steps and grabbed the front of his shirt. He shoved Simon up against the hover sled and said, "I don't recall givin' you leave to stay at the hospital once you had the supplies."

Simon looked right at him and said, "You didn't. I just decided to do the right thing all by myself."

Mal kept a fist full of Simon's shirt and said, "The right thing? You risked getting sick, and getting the rest of the crew sick, including your sister, and you think you did the right thing?" 

"I'm not an idiot Captain, and I'm not a child. I know the risks better then you, and I still did the right thing by trying to help those people."

Mal yanked him close so that they were practically nose to nose and said, "You are a member of my crew, and that means you do as I say whether you like it or not. I don't expect to have to go over this with you again."

Mal let him go with a slight shove towards the door. He said, "Now get to the infirmary and do your job. We've got us a new pilot, but I want a full physical on him before we take him anywhere. Make sure he's not contagious."

Simon stumbled a little with the shove, but quickly got his footing. He glared at Mal, and then walked to the infirmary. He had originally thought there was a possibility of convincing Mal to let him stay there for a week so he could help, but now he understood that Mal would never let that happen. As he walked to his lab, he thought about what he was going to do.

He nodded to Zoe as he arrived and she stood outside the door while Simon preformed the physical. Ten minutes later Simon opened the door and told Zoe that Ray was in perfect health. Zoe thanked him and had Ray follow her to find the captain. They found Mal still looking over the hover sled. Zoe said, "He checks out."

Mal nodded at Ray and said, "Sounds like you've got the job."

Ray smiled. "I'll be here at eight AM tomorrow morning ready to go."

Mal shook his hand and said, "Welcome aboard."

Ray left to go do his packing. Mal looked at Zoe and in way of reconciliation said, "Looks like we're docked for the night. Want a drink?"

Zoe gave him a slight smile and a nod. They headed to the kitchen area together. Mal got out his good whisky and two glasses. He poured and they both stood at the counter to have a shot. Mal poured them both another, and held his up to his lips and then paused. He looked at Zoe and held up his glass. He said, "To Wash."

Zoe paused a second and then clinked her glass to his before tipping it up. She set it down with a click and said, "Requesting some personal time Sir. I'd like to be alone in my room for the next twenty four hours."

Mal could tell she was close to tears and said, "Granted."

Zoe walked away, and Mal poured himself one more before heading out to talk to Jayne about the hospital visit, and any possibility of infection for his crew.

Simon stayed in the infirmary and put his new supplies away. Then he started thinking about the virus and the epidemic. He sat and jotted down some of his thoughts that he wanted to share with Muriel when he got back there. An hour after getting back to the ship Kaylee knocked on the infirmary door. He smiled at her and said, "Come in."

Kaylee walked over to him and gave him a passionate kiss. Once they pulled apart he said, "How was your day?"

She smiled at him and said, "River and I played hop scotch."

He laughed a little and said, "Who won?"

Kaylee shook here head. "It's always about winnin' with you men. We had fun playin'."

Simon brushed some hair away from Kaylee's forehead and said, "Have I told you before how much it means to me that you've become friends with my sister?"

"Have I told you how much it means to me that you've become my lover?"

Simon gave her another kiss and said, "Have I told you before how happy I am that you waited for me to come to my senses. You could have had any number of men, but you waited for me."

She kissed his neck and said, "It was worth the wait."

She pulled away and went to sit on the examination table. She said, "You were gone an awfully long time."

He sighed and stood next to the table beside her. "I want so much to help them."

Simon took a minute to think about it and collect his thoughts. "It's like I get lost in the lab. When I'm there everything else disappears, and I know that I can solve the puzzle if I just have enough time to put the pieces together. I can end the pain, suffering, and death of thousands of people if I have enough time."

Kaylee felt for him. She knew exactly what he meant, because she felt the same way about the ship's engine. She put a hand on his face and said, "But Simon, you can't fix everyone. Family has to come first, or life just ain't worth livin'."

Simon got a little upset. "I've sacrificed my entire carrier for my family. I don't think it's too much to ask to actually be of use once in a while in the carrier I gave up."

Kaylee said, "That ain't what I meant. I meant…." Kaylee gave up, knowing Simon wouldn't understand. "I guess I just mean I missed you."

Simon gave her a peck on the cheek and said, "I missed you too. Now I've got some work to do before dinner."

Kaylee nodded and headed out feeling bad for her boyfriend.

Dinner that night was more of a somber affair then usual with the obvious empty spot where Zoe usually sat, and the spot right next to it where Wash used to sit. Mal and Simon avoided direct conversation, and Inara and Kaylee did most of the talking. Mal told everyone that Ray would be joining them first thing in the morning, and that then they would be off to look for work in some of the outer rim planets.

When dinner was over Mal sat and looked at the two empty chairs for a while. Then he noticed the only person left at the table was Inara. He smiled at her and said, "Hope this stop hasn't been too dull for you."

Inara smiled and said, "It's been fine. I had fun watching Kaylee and River play this afternoon."

Mal looked back at the empty chair and said, "Inara, can I ask a favor of you?"

Inara was shocked and slowly nodded. Mal looked back at her, "Could you take Wash's chair at meals once Ray is aboard?"

Inara said, "But…"

Mal interrupted, "Someone has to take his seat. I'd rather it be someone Zoe calls a friend then some stranger. Especially when that stranger is taking over her husband's job."

Inara said with sincerity, "Of course I will."

"I'd be much obliged."

Mal put his hand over hers, and she left her hand there. She said, "How's Zoe doing?"

Mal shook his head. "She's missin' him, and it'll take some time, but she'll be alright. She's seen more then her share of death over the years. It's never easy, but… you do become more accustom to it then you'd like to admit."

Inara put her other hand on top of Mal's and squeezed it. She said, "I'm going to make a plate and take it to Zoe."

Mal wasn't sure that was the best idea, but he figured Inara knew more about making people feel better then he did, so he let go of her hand, and picked up his own plate to wash it.

Late that night, Simon lay in bed staring at the ceiling trying to get up the courage to follow through with his plan. He looked over at Kaylee sleeping next to him. She spent most nights in his quarters rather then her own lately. He thought she was beautiful. He absently wondered how upset she would be about what he was planning. He knew she would be a little mad, but he thought she would forgive him because she would understand why he was doing it. Mal on the other hand would not. He wasn't sure what Mal would do about it, but he was pretty sure it would be unpleasant. He thought it could very well get him and his sister kicked off the ship. But River was a lot better now, and he thought they could easily change names and hook up with another ship. He also thought he could talk Kaylee into coming with him.

Simon sighed and thought about the other option. Mal might shoot him, or beat him up. Simon thought the odds of Mal shooting him were low, and if he did shoot him, Simon was sure it would be non-lethal. Simon had been shot twice since being with Serenity, and it wasn't an experience he wanted to relive. But Simon thought the best odds lay with getting punched and yelled at a lot. Simon had been punched a few times, but not much. He had never been punched before his life on the run with River. He didn't exactly want to step into that either, but he decided saving a few thousand people was worth the pain of a punch or two.

He took one more look at Kaylee and slipped out of bed trying not to wake her up. He quickly got dressed, and pulled the small overnight bag out from under his bed. He had packed right after dinner before Kaylee came to see him. He took a letter out from the side of his overnight bag and put it on the pillow next to Kaylee. He walked out and shut the door behind him.

He walked over to River's room and hesitated at the door. He wasn't sure if it would be better to tell River or not. He suddenly had the stray thought that he never could have done this if River hadn't gotten 'better'. If River was still getting worse, and in crisis every day, he never would have even considered leaving. He knew he would have to see her reaction before he left, because if she became emotional, it might change his mind about the whole idea.

He opened the door and saw River sitting on her bed looking at him expectantly. He was slightly caught off guard and said with surprise, "You're awake."

River said, "You're leaving."

Simon looked behind him and then walked into her room. He closed the door behind him. He put his bag down and went to sit on the edge of River's bed. He said, "There are thousands of people sick on this moon. I want… no I need to go help them. Will you be okay without me for a week?"

River said, "They have the orange death."

Simon nodded. "Yes they do, and I want to find a vaccine to make sure other people can't get it."

"When they get it, they can't breath. They suffocate to death. Suffocation isn't the worst way to go. A little like falling asleep."

Simon put his hand on hers and said, "But I can make it so people won't have to die."

River looked down at his hand. After a few seconds she said, "Simon?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be fine. You go help them."

Simon gave her the smile that only she could bring out in him. It was a mix of affection, exasperation, and joy. He kissed her forehead and got up. He turned around to say something, but before he could River said, "I will."

"You will what?"

River rolled her eyes, lay down on her pillow, and turned to her side so that her back was to him. "I'll behave. I'll do what Mal says, I won't start a fight with Jayne, and I'll help Kaylee not to miss you."

Simon collected his bag and said, "I love you River."

"I know. I love you too."

Simon walked out and shut the door behind him. He took a look around the living area they shared and then walked up the stairs to the main hall. As quietly as possible he opened and then shut the hatch door to their quarters, and prayed he hadn't woken anyone up. He made his way to the main hatch, and pushed the button for it to open. He couldn't believe how loud the hatch was. It didn't seem that loud during the day. He kept looking behind him expecting half the crew to come running. But soon the hatch was open, and no one had come.

Simon took a deep breath, and pushed the button for the hatch to close. As it was slowly closing, he jumped out and started running down the dock. Once he got to the end of the dock he started walking. He looked behind him a few times, but found no one. He looked around him and found that while the town had seemed slightly dead during the day, it was a creepy kind of dead at night. He kept a brisk pace, and ended up at the hospital forty-five minutes later without encountering another soul.

He went in the emergency entrance, because the main entrance was closed. It was mostly empty. He went to the nurse on duty and said, "Excuse me, I'm here to see Dr. Muriel Larson."

The nurse said, "Oh yes, she left me a note. Hold on."

The nurse looked through her papers and found the note. She looked it over for a minute and said, "Are you Dr. Milton?"

"Yes."

"Right this way. She has a room set up for you."

Simon followed the nurse, and as they arrived in the main section of the hospital, he again saw stretchers in the hallway, and patients with various stages of the rash everywhere. He only saw two nurses and one doctor for the hundred plus people that were sick. Soon the nurse showed him to a private room. He had a bed and his own bathroom. He looked around and said, "All I really need is a cot. You could fit four patients in here comfortably. I could put my stuff somewhere else and go help out. It looks like you're short staffed."

The nurse lifted up her shirt slightly to show him some orange scarring on her stomach. She said, "Let me see yours."

Simon shook his head a little confused. "I haven't had it. I'm not from here."

The nurse put her shirt down and said, "Exactly. Dr Larson's note said you are our best hope of finding a vaccine. She said you are not to interact directly with the patients, and you are to have a room alone. She's the new chief of staff, now that everyone else is dead, so I'm gonna follow her instructions."

Simon didn't really like it, but he could see the sense in it. He nodded and said, "Okay then, thank you for the room. If you could please have her wake me as soon as she arrives?"

"Sure."

"And if someone comes looking for me…."

The nurse cut him off, "I've never seen you before, and our records show you were here yesterday but left in the afternoon and we haven't seen you since."

"Wow. I guess she's thought of everything."

The nurse said, "If you really can find us a vaccine, everyone in this hospital including the patients will fight to keep you safe and working."

Simon nodded and started to feel a little nervous that maybe their faith in him was misplaced. He watched her leave and shut the door behind her. He promised himself he would do everything he could for them, and then lay down to try and get some sleep.

Mal woke before anyone else, and was sitting in the kitchen enjoying a quiet cup of coffee when Inara walked in. She smiled at him and got herself some coffee too. She sat at Wash's place and sipped her coffee quietly with him. A few minutes later she looked at the clock on the wall and said, "Ray should be here in the next few minutes."

Mal looked over at the clock too and said, "I best go open the hatch and be there to show him to his quarters."

Inara watched him go, and sat alone with her coffee. Ten minutes later she could faintly hear the hatch opening and figured the new crewman had arrived. A few seconds later Kaylee bust into the kitchen looking disheveled and holding a note. River was right behind her looking slightly less stressed. Inara stood up and said, "What's wrong?"

Kaylee looked around and said, "Where's the Captain?"

Inara said, "He's seeing to the new pilot."

Inara thought Kaylee looked close to tears. She walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "What is it Kaylee?"

"He's gonna be so mad. I don't want to tell him, but I gotta tell him. How can I make it sound less… wrong?"

Kaylee handed Inara the note that Simon had left. It read:

Dearest Kaylee,

I'm very sorry to run out in the middle of the night, but I knew of no other way to accomplish my task. I have gone to help rid this moon of the virus that has killed so many. It should only take a week at most, and I sincerely hope that both you and Mal can forgive me when I'm finished. Please tell Mal that he can conduct business as usual, and if it takes longer then a week for him to come back to this moon to get me, I understand completely. If he feels that in this endeavor I have broken the proverbial camel's back, then I will find new passage for my sister, for myself, and for you also if you are willing. Please watch out for River while I am gone, and try to find it in your heart to forgive me.

All my love,  
Simon

Inara shook her head and handed it back to Kaylee. She said, "There is no easy way to tell him. Just show him the note….. Maybe after hiding his gun."

Kaylee was almost in tears, but she nodded at Inara's advice. She said, "Come with me?"

Inara linked arms with Kaylee, and they went together to find Mal. River followed behind them with an odd expression on her face, and mumbling quietly to herself about possible outcomes.

They found Mal next to the main hatch helping to carry in a bag. Ray was next to him carrying a couple of large bags and said, "That's the last of it."

Mal had a big smile on his face, and when he noticed the three women arriving he turned to Ray and said, "Come and meet some of the crew."

Mal turned to the women and was about to introduce them to Ray when he lost his smile at the site of Kaylee. He said, "What's wrong?"

Kaylee clutched the note to her chest and said, "Promise you ain't gonna shoot him."

"Shoot who?"

"Simon."

Mal narrowed his eyes and said, "What's he done?"

Kaylee shook her head and a tear did fall down her face. She said, "Promise me you ain't gonna shoot him Cap'n." Everyone could tell she wasn't demanding this of him, she was begging.

Mal had always been, and would always be, fond of Kaylee. She was very much like a little sister to him. He wiped the tear off her face and said, "I promise, xiao mei mei, now tell me what he's done."

Kaylee handed Mal the note with a shaky hand. Inara gave her a one armed hug while they waited. The more Mal read, the angrier he got. When he was finished, he wished he hadn't been so quick to promise. He handed the note back to Kaylee. She took it and said, "What are you gonna do?"

Mal took a few deep breaths to calm down and said, "I'm going to go get the good doctor and bring him back. What I'll do when I get him here, I can't rightly say just yet."

Kaylee nodded in acceptance of that. Mal turned to Ray and said, "Inara here can show you to your quarters, and you can unpack while I collect my wayward crewmember."

Ray nodded and looked to the women not sure which one was Inara. Mal started to walk towards the hatch when River quickly walked to him and put a hand on his arm to stop him. He turned to her, and was about to tell her not to worry because he wasn't planning to do any actual damage to her brother, but when he looked at her she was looking off in the distance. He looked up and to the left where she was looking but saw nothing. She whispered, "The Alliance."

Mal looked back at her. She turned her eyes to him, gripped his arm tighter, and said urgently, "They'll find us. If we don't leave RIGHT NOW, they'll find us. They aren't looking for us, but they'll know who were are, and they'll find me."

River let go of his arm and stumbled back a few steps while looking terrified and turning white. She mumbled, "They'll take me back to the Academy. I don't want to go back. They'll test me and cut me open again. Then I won't be fine anymore, I'll be crazy."

She covered the sides of her head with both hands and said, "I don't want to be crazy anymore. They're coming. We have to leave now. Please don't let them take me! Please!"

River started to cry quietly and then crouched down into a little ball on the floor and said, "Don't let them take me."

Mal knew that River 'saw' things before they happened. He knew that River had been tortured at the Academy, and he didn't want another run in with the Alliance any time soon. He walked over to the hatch, and pushed the button to close the door. He turned to Ray and said, "Looks like you'll have to unpack later."

Mal crouched down next to River and said, "Which way should we go to avoid them?"

She said, "Towards Grizzy"

Mal looked up at Ray and said, "You been to Grizzy before?"

"Yep."

"Then go earn your pay, and get us out of here quick like."

Ray headed towards the bridge at a brisk pace. Mal reached out to River and touched her shoulder. He said, "I have no notion of letting anyone take you River. You're never going back to the Academy."

She gave him a teary smile and whispered, "Thank you."

Mal patted her shoulder once and then looked to Inara and Kaylee for help. Kaylee, forgetting about her own problems for the moment, crouched down next to River and put an arm around her shoulders. She said, "Come on now River, let's go back to your room and make ourselves more presentable. We can't go paradin' around in our pajamas now can we?"

River looked down at herself, slowly shook her head no, and stood up along with Kaylee and Mal. Kaylee looked at Mal and said, "We'll be in for breakfast right quick."

Kaylee lead River away. Once they were out of range, Inara said, "Do you think there's any possibility that the Alliance won't find Simon if they land on the moon?"

"No."

"Maybe they don't know about the quarantine. Maybe they won't actually visit the moon now that we've left."

Mal looked at her and said, "I hope for Simon's sake that you're right. If the Alliance gets a hold of him….."

Inara nodded knowing they would torture him for the truth about his sister's whereabouts. Mal said, "The Alliance will most likely leave spies once they know we've been there. We won't be able to get him for at least a month."

Inara tried to lighten the situation and said, "Just enough time for you to cool down."

"Not even close."

Inara changed the subject. "I'm going to go start some breakfast for everyone."

Mal nodded absently and headed up to the bridge so he would be close enough to give orders if they did run into the Alliance.

Half an hour later they were well on their way to Grizzy, and hadn't seen any Alliance. Mal left Ray to pilot, and went to breakfast to talk with his crew. He saw everyone, including Zoe, sitting around the breakfast table done eating. Everyone turned to see Mal come in. Mal sat down and got himself a plate of cold food. He said, "I'm guessin' you've all heard the news."

Jayne said, "Doc's out of his Gorram mind to stay there in the middle of all that death."

Kaylee defended Simon, even though she didn't really agree with what he had done, "He's a doctor. Being around death is kinda in his job description."

Jayne shrugged, "I guess so. Maybe that's why they're all so creepy."

River quietly said, "He's preventing death."

Kaylee put her hand over River's hand and said, "That's right."

Mal had eaten a few bits. When there was a lull in the conversation he said, "We're headed to Grizzy, and we'll see what business we can scrounge up there."

Kaylee said, "What about Simon?"

Mal looked closely at her and said, "If the Alliance doesn't get wind of him bein' there, then he'll be safe enough until we come back for him. If the Alliance already has him, then there ain't much we can do for him now."

Kaylee shook her head no but said, "How long tell we can get him?"

"At least a month."

"A month! But what if…"

Mal cut her off, "Kaylee."

She waited for him to talk. "It ain't what I want to do, but I gotta think of everyone, not just Simon."

Kaylee looked down and nodded understanding where he was coming from. She mumbled, "Excuse me." And left the table in a hurry.

Jayne said, "I say leave him there. He'll most likely be dead from that disease before we get back anyhow."

River giggled at that. Jayne gave her an uneasy look. Mal said, "We don't leave our crew behind."

Mal looked over at Zoe and said, "You're 24 hours ain't up."

Zoe said, "No Sir."

"Ready to go back to work?"

Zoe smiled at him, "Yes Sir."

"Go relieve Ray, so he can come eat and meet everyone."

Zoe nodded and headed out to the bridge. She said hi to Ray and sent him to the kitchen. He arrived and Mal said, "Ray, grab a plate and eat while I introduce you."

As Mal spoke he indicated Inara's old chair for Ray to sit in. Ray took a plate, and dished some food up. When he sat, Mal said, "Everyone, this is Ray. He used to fly with Fatty, but left when he found out what a nice guy Fatty really is."

Jayne said, "Fatty ain't nice. Didn't he try to shoot you once?"

Mal looked at Ray and said, "This is Jayne. He's good in a fight, and knows his weapons."

Ray nodded and shook hands with Jayne. Mal pointed at River and said, "This here is River, she's wanted by the Alliance, she's not quite right in the head, and as you probably already gathered she has a habit of knowing things she shouldn't."

Mal had said this in an upbeat voice, so Ray smiled and held out his hand to shake with River. River gave him a serious look and said, "The Orange Death tried to take you but failed."

Ray slowly put his hand down. River smiled at him and said, "You have pretty skin."

Mal got Ray's attention back to him as he said, "You've already met Zoe my second in command. And you met Simon, our doctor, who won't be with us for the next month. The only two left are Kaylee and Inara. You saw Kaylee earlier. She keeps the engine going. And Inara here is a licensed Companion."

Ray swallowed his food hard and looked at Inara with surprise. He said, "Really? You have a licensed Companion on board? I didn't realize you were running such a high class ship Captain. I'll have to dig out my better clothes."

As Ray said this he was smiling at Inara. Inara smiled back at his slight flirting. Ray held out his hand, but instead of shaking he kissed the back of her hand. Mal gripped his fork hard enough to hurt while watching this and said, "No need for that. She prefers to be the only one with fancy clothes aboard."

Inara gave Mal a quick glare at that, and then turned back to Ray who was still holding her hand. She said, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ray. It will be nice to have someone on board who at least changes his clothes once in a while."

Mal knew this comment was directed at him and his uniform. He said with false cheer, "Let's hope his piloting keeps him occupied enough that he doesn't feel the need to change clothes three times a day out of boredom."

Inara let go of Ray's hand and said, "I look forward to getting to know you Ray. If you'll all excuse me, I think I'll go see if there are any potential clients in Grizzy."

Mal felt his adrenaline pumping at that statement, and had to force himself not to go after her. Inara hadn't had any clients since getting back aboard the ship. He quickly regretted his jealous little outburst, and hoped she wouldn't find anyone.

Ray turned to Mal and said, "That's the whole crew?"

Mal nodded. Ray commented, "Lot's of women."

"Is that gonna be a problem for you?"

Ray gave Mal a large smile and said, "Just the opposite Captain. Do you have any rules against the crew getting together?"

Mal wanted badly to say yes he did, but instead shook his head no. He thought about pointing out that Zoe had just lost her husband, and Kaylee was involved with Simon, and River was seventeen not to mention slightly off, but then that just left Inara, so he kept his mouth shut.

Jayne rolled his eyes and stood up to start clearing the table. He muttered, "Good luck with this crew."

Mal said, "Zoe can handle the flyin' for now. As soon as you're done eating, I'll show you to your quarters so you can get settled."

Ray nodded and finished his meal.

Six hours later they were about to land on Grizzy. Mal hadn't talked to Kaylee since that morning, and went to find her before they landed. He went to the engine room and found her sitting on the floor watching the engine spin the way some people might watch a fire. He said, "Hey."

She didn't look at him but said quietly, "Hey Cap'n."

Mal went and sat down next to her, and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and said, "How could he do it? Just up and leave in the middle of the night like that?"

"I don't rightly know."

They sat in silence for a while, and then Kaylee said, "It's gonna be a long month."

Mal nodded in agreement. A few minutes later he said, "We'll be landin' on Grizzy soon. I want you to keep an eye on River while the rest of us are lookin' for work."

"Okay."

Mal patted her shoulder once and then got up. Next Mal went to see Inara. She had skipped lunch in favor of hiding in her shuttle to avoid him. He knocked on her door. She opened it and said, "Yes?" 

"We'll be landin' soon, and I plan to stay here for two nights, so that should give you plenty of time to line up a few customers."

Inara wanted to tell him that she didn't actually plan to see anyone on Grizzy, but all that came out was "Thank you for letting me know."

Mal gave her a curt nod and walked away. Inara watched him go, and then quietly shut her door. She leaned against it and asked herself, "What are you doing?"

She shook her head not knowing and went to sit on the couch. She loved Mal. There was no question about that. But you couldn't exactly have a 'boyfriend' when you were a Companion. Inara sighed and thought, 'Why am I still here? I left for a reason. He can't ever really love me, he thinks I'm a whore. All we do is fight and irritate each other, and get in the way of each other's business. But the real problem is that I just don't want to leave. I'm drawn to him even with all his flaws, or maybe because of them. And after Wash, life just seems shorter. I don't want any big regrets. But what if I quit the guild, and then it doesn't work between us? Would I regret that as much as not trying at all?'

Inara lay back on her couch and tried to decide what to do.

Kaylee watched River for most of the evening, but didn't really do much with her. Then when the rest of the crew got back with a job lined up for the following evening, Kaylee said her goodnights and went to her room. She looked around and thought how lonely it looked. She got ready for bed and lay down with the note Simon had left her. She looked it over again, and then set it on the table next to her bed. She turned off her lights and lay there thinking about the whole mess. She alternated between being angry with Simon, and then worrying about him. She tossed and turned long into the night.

Kaylee woke up to a dark room, but something didn't feel quite right. She looked around and was startled to see River in her room sitting in one of her chairs staring at her. Kaylee made a noise of surprise and sat up quickly. She said, "River?"

River just kept looking at Kaylee with an innocent face and said, "I can't sleep."

Kaylee lay back down and said, "What time is it?"

"Early."

Kaylee looked over at her clock and saw that it was three AM. She sighed and sat up again. She stood up and motioned for River to come with her. "Let's get you back in bed."

River said in a pathetic voice, "I don't want to go back. It's too quiet there. It's like one of the tests. The sensory deprivation test. I can't hear Simon sleeping, so I can't sleep."

Kaylee put an arm around River and said, "You wanna sleep here tonight?"

River shook her head. "I want you to sleep in Simon's bed like usual."

Kaylee took her arm off and said, "Oh, River….. I…. I don't think that would be right. It's Simon's bed, not mine…. And if he's not there…."

River grabbed Kaylee's hand and said; "It will smell like him. You can sleep better, and so can I. Please Kaylee. Please sleep there until he comes home."

Kaylee gave River a smile, and even though it wasn't exactly what she wanted to do, she couldn't tell River no either. "Of course I will. Come on, let's go get some sleep."

Kaylee walked with River to her room and watched her get in bed. She said, "Night. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

River lifted the covers and looked around confused. "There aren't any bugs in here."

Kaylee turned off the lights and shut the door. She walked over to Simon's room and opened the door. She looked at the bed, and thought she would never get to sleep now. But she lay down and found that River was right. It did smell like Simon, and she was soon asleep.

Four days later things had gotten back to some kind of normal. Ray seemed to be fitting in nicely with the rest of the crew, except that he flirted endlessly with Inara, which in turn infuriated Mal. And Inara was having fun watching Mal try to keep his cool while Ray flirted. Mal had noticed that Inara hadn't seen any other clients, and somehow that made her flirting with Ray that much worse.

Kaylee was more quiet and less sunny then usual. She had done a lot of thinking about Simon over the past few days, and she had come to some kind of inner piece about it. She kept sleeping in Simon's bed, and River seemed comforted by this.

Then on the fifth night away from Newview, Kaylee was awoken by the sound of screaming. She jumped out of bed and ran to River's room. River was thrashing about on the bed and screaming as if in pain. Kaylee turned on the light and yelled, "River! River wake up!"

River immediately stopped screaming and abruptly sat up in bed. She looked at Kaylee and then shielded her eyes from the light. Kaylee dimmed the lights and then went to sit on the edge of River's bed. She put a hand on River's arm and said, "You were having a nightmare."

River was sweaty and shaking. She shook her head and said, "No, I was reliving the past."

Kaylee gave her a hug and said, "The Academy?"

River nodded. Kaylee said, "Why don't you go take a quick shower to rinse off. I'll bring you some new pajamas, and make up your bed again."

River again nodded and went to take a shower. Kaylee looked at the clock. It was almost midnight.

Ten minutes later River was clean and dry in new pajamas. She lay down and Kaylee covered her up. Kaylee sat beside her on the bed and did what her mother had always done for her when she had a bad dream. She started to brush out River's hair with her fingers and talked quietly to her. "No more bad dreams tonight. You ain't at the Academy no more, and you never have to go there again."

River mumbled, "I miss Simon."

"I know, I miss him too. I'll bet that's why you had that dream. You're worried that the Alliance will find him. But I'm sure the Alliance didn't even stop at that moon once they heard about the quarantine. I'm sure Simon is just dandy."

River close to sleep said, "No, I'm not worried about the Alliance, that wasn't real. I told you, I was reliving the past, not having a dream about the future."

Kaylee's fingers stilled in River's hair. She said, "What do you mean it wasn't real?"

"It was the only way for Simon to be a doctor again. He needed it, and the Captain wasn't gonna let him, so I made it up. But he's safe. He's gonna find a vaccine. Probably already has. He's a good doctor. Not like those men who worked on me. But I do miss him."

Kaylee couldn't believe her ears. She said, "River?"

"Hmm?"

"The Alliance wasn't really there at Newview? You just made that up for Simon?"

River gave a nod and said, "I'm tired again now. I'm going to sleep."

Kaylee stood up and turned out the light. She shut River's door and leaned against it for a few seconds. She said quietly to herself, "It wasn't real."

A few different things went through her mind at once. 'No one even considered she was lyin'. Cap'n's not gonna like this one bit. But that means we can head to Newview now and get Simon by tomorrow!'

She was happy for a millisecond and then thought, 'But Cap'n's still all riled up about Simon leavin', and when he finds out River's been tellin' tales that's not gonna help. I gotta tell him, ain't no choice there, but maybe I can make him see things my way when I do.'

She made up her mind, and went to find a sweater to put on over her pajama top. She quietly walked up to the hatch and into the hallway where the crew's quarters were. She went to Mal's door and quietly knocked, knowing it would probably be enough to wake him up. A few seconds later she hadn't gotten a response. She opened his hatch a crack and called, "Cap'n?"

There was no answer. She closed the hatch and went looking for him. She found him in the kitchen staring at a full shot glass. He turned to see her come in and said, "What are you doin' up at this hour?"

"Lookin' for you."

He gave her a smile and set an empty glass at the spot next to him. He held up his bottle of whisky and said, "You want a shot?"

Kaylee made a face and shook her head no as she sat down next to him. He set the whisky down and stared at his own shot glass again as he said, "Me neither."

He had been staring at the same shot glass full of whisky for the past hour. He didn't really want it. He just wanted the excuse to sit there and think about things. He hated feeling helpless, but that was how the situation with Simon and to a lesser extent the situation with Ray and Inara made him feel.

Kaylee said, "I have somethin' to tell you Cap'n, and you ain't gonna like it. Not one bit."

Mal drank his shot, put the cap on the bottle and said, "Best get it over with then."

Kaylee said, "I've been thinkin' about Simon since he's been gone."

Mal waited a few seconds and then when she didn't continue he said, "Sounds reasonable."

"You remember when I was talkin' about us bein' family?"

Mal nodded and she continued. "I truly believe we are Cap'n. You, me, Zoe, Jayne, and Inara, we're family. And after Miranda I think Simon and River are family too. Do you feel that way?"

Mal shrugged and said, "I don't think on my feelings overly much Kaylee. They're part of my crew, which makes me responsible for them."

Kaylee shook her head and said, "It's real important to me Cap'n. Think on it now. Are they family, or ain't they? If they're just crew, to you, then that changes things."

"Changes what?"

Kaylee shook her head. "You first. I'll make myself a snack while you decide."

Mal did think about it. He already knew the answer, but he didn't know that he wanted to tell Kaylee about it. She would just use it against him later to make him go easy on Simon when they did get him back. But by the time Kaylee got back to the table with a cut up apple, Mal knew he would tell her the truth.

She said, "Well?"

Mal sighed. "They're family, but that don't mean that I'm gonna just let Simon do as he pleases. They're still crew, which means they need to follow my orders, and do as I say."

Kaylee smiled. "Thank you Cap'n. That's how I feel too. Now what do you intend to do to Simon when we get him back?"

Mal shook his head. "I don't rightly know. I promised not to shoot him. Yellin' don't seem to do much good, he just yells back. And I ain't got a brig……"

When he paused, Kaylee said, "So you're plannin' to beat him up."

"It's not that I want to, Kaylee. I just don't see any other options."

"I do."

"I can't just let it go. Then he'll be off doin' it again at our next stop."

"I wasn't sayin' you should let it go Cap'n. I'm sayin' I have another idea."

Mal sat back and slouched in his chair. He waited to hear her idea. She said, "Promise me you won't interrupt 'till I'm done?"

Mal shook his head; "I ain't promisin' nothin' of the sort."

Kaylee was disappointed at that, but understood why he said it. Kaylee said, "Well if we're family, then where do we all fit? You're the Captain, so that makes you the dad."

Mal opened his mouth to protest that immediately. He had never been a father, and the thought of little ones made him nervous. She held up her hand and said, "I know, just hear me out. Zoe is like your sister, so that would make her the aunt. Like it or not, that makes Inara the mom."

Mal said, "I ain't likin' this analogy Kaylee."

Kaylee went on. "Jayne is like the oldest son who maybe got dropped on his head as a baby. I'm the older sister. Simon's the younger brother, and River is the baby."

Mal was slightly amused now and said, "You know that means you're sleepin' with your brother, right?"

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "It's how we all fit with you, not how we fit with each other."

"So let's pretend I see what you're sayin'. I don't see how that changes things."

Kaylee looked Mal in the eye and said, "One time when I was sixteen I ran off to be with a boy who was almost twice my age. My daddy found us the next morning, and took me home. Turned out the looser was married, but that ain't the point. The point is that once we got home, my daddy whupped me so hard I couldn't sit for the rest of the day."

Mal sat there for a second waiting for the punch line, and as the connections were made in his brain he started shaking his head. He gave her an incredulous look; "You want me to give him a lickin'?"

"Think about it. You were gonna punch him in the face or the stomach, or both. That can do a lot more damage then a whuppin', and if he decided to fight back, then you got a mess on your hands 'cause you'll have to keep at it until you've won."

Mal shook his head; "I don't know Kaylee…."

"Has Simon told you anything about his folks?"

"No, we don't sit around talkin' much."

"Well he told me plenty. They put River in that school, and when he tried to convince them that she was sufferin' they didn't do squat. Then when he tried to rescue her, they said they were ashamed of him. They made it seem like he had disgraced the family by tryin' to save his sister. They've disowned him and River now that they've become a social embarrassment. I don't care what I did; my daddy never would have been that mean. Even when he whupped me, I knew he loved me."

Mal looked at Kaylee and said, "I ain't looking to be a father figure to my crew."

Kaylee shrugged and said, "Too bad, 'cause you already are."

"Well, maybe that needs to change."

"I ain't never seen you back down from a challenge Cap'n."

Mal pointed a finger at her and said; "Now see here, tryin' to push me into this isn't gonna work."

Kaylee looked down to hide a smile at how parental that sounded. After a second she said, "You know I love Simon."

Mal sat back again, "Yeah."

"So believe me when I say he's never gonna fully trust you any other way. He'll always be expectin' you to dump him and River off the ship, or he'll be expectin' you to show him your anger in a hateful way. But if you show him you're not gonna accept what he did, and at the same time show him that he IS a member of this family now, you'll break through his defenses."

They were quiet for a few minutes and Mal said, "I don't know Kaylee. I'll think on it over the next few weeks."

"I ain't told you 'bout the thing you ain't gonna like yet."

Mal gave her a sarcastic, "Well ain't that just great, 'cause I've been enjoyin' our conversation so much up to now."

"River just told me that she lied to you."

"'Bout what?"

"The Alliance wasn't there at Newview. She made it up so Simon could stay and work on a vaccine."

Mal didn't know what to say. That thought had never crossed his mind. He said, "She lied? All that cryin' was an act?"

Kaylee nodded and jumped to her defense, "You know River ain't quite right. She most likely don't even know that what she did was wrong."

"I know River ain't all there, but she knows right from wrong. I can't abide her lyin' to me."

Kaylee tried to change his focus, "So we could head to Newview and get Simon any time you like. You don't have to wait a month."

Mal nodded and said, "I'll have Ray head us in that direction right now."

As Mal got up Kaylee put a hand on his arm and said, "You got whupped when you was a youngen right?"

Mal gave her a confused look and said, "A few times, why?"

"You know you've got to hug them after, and let them know you care about them."

Mal was frustrated with the whole conversation and said, "I ain't decided to do it, and I ain't discussin' this with you no more Kaylee. Go to bed, and that's an order."

Kaylee got up and said a quiet, "Night Cap'n." as she left the room.

Mal ran his hand through his hair thinking about all the things they had discussed. He walked up to the bridge to find Ray. The bridge was empty, and the ship was on auto pilot. Mal thought Ray was in the bathroom. He thought about waiting for him, but decided to come back and talk to him in a few minutes. He felt a strong need to talk to Inara about the things Kaylee had said to him, and decided to see if she was awake. He walked to her shuttle and as he was about to knock quietly at the door, he heard her scream, "Get off me! I said no!"

Mal drew his gun, and went in unannounced. The sight in front of him made him so angry he felt a calm settling over him. Inara was laying on her back on the couch, and had a trickle of blood coming out of the side of her mouth. Ray was on top of her trying to rip her dress. Mal cocked his gun and said with calm, "Get off her now, and I'll shoot you somewhere that won't find you dead by the time we get to Newview."

Inara looked at Mal with relief. Ray was shocked and angry at the interruption. He snarled, "This is none of your business Captain. I paid for her services."

Mal looked to Inara who was not agreeing to what Ray said, and was actively trying to push him off her. Mal took aim, and shot Ray in the calf of the leg that was hanging off the couch. Ray screamed and fell off the couch, and subsequently off Inara, as he clutched at his leg.

Inara quickly stood up when Ray was off her, and then kicked him in the head. She said with anger, "I said I didn't want your money."

He lay on the floor groaning and Mal held out his hand to Inara. She came over to him and took it. He said, "Are you alright?"

Inara nodded. He put his hand to her face and wiped off some of the blood. He said, "What happened?"

Inara wiped at the blood too. She said, "He came over about half an hour ago. He's come to visit me a few times, and he has always been very nice until tonight. He sat and had some tea with me, and we talked about some of my regular clients. Then when the tea was done he showed me that he had brought money with him, and said he would like to buy my services for the night. I told him no. He looked hurt, so I explained that I wouldn't get involved with anyone on board, because it would be a conflict of interest. He got angry and called me a tease. He went on about it, and then when I asked him to leave he slapped me. He was trying to rape me when you arrived."

Mal looked to Ray on the floor and said, "Tryin' to rape a Companion is a serious offence. Twenty years in prison at least."

Ray didn't comment, and Mal shot him again, this time in the upper leg before putting his gun away. Ray screamed and passed out on the floor. Mal turned to Inara and cupped her face as he said, "You sure you're all right?"

Inara nodded but a tear came out of her eye. She said, "They train us for this kind of thing. I should have known what to do. Should have kneed him in the groin. Gotten to the dagger on my thigh. It just took me by surprise, because I thought we were friends."

Mal said, "I'm sure you would have remembered your trainin' before it got too far."

Inara whispered, "Thank you."

Mal put his hand down and looked over at Ray. He said, "Sorry 'bout the mess. I'll pay to have your rug cleaned."

Mal looked back at Inara and almost fell over as she launched herself at him. She stood on her toes and hugged him hard while resting her head on his shoulder and cried. He put his arms around her too and said, "Hey now, it's gonna be okay. He's not gonna hurt you no more."

Inara shook her head and after a few seconds was able to stop crying long enough to say, "No… It's not that… I used him to make you jealous, and it was stupid. I came back here because I can't stay away from you even though I've tried. I don't want any other clients. I just want you, but you think I'm a whore, so…."

He interrupted her by putting both his hands on her upper arms and pulling her away from his embrace. He looked into her eyes and said, "You mean it Inara? You just want me, and no one else?"

She nodded through her tears and even laughed at herself as she said, "I'm not foolish enough to think you feel the same, but I thought you should know."

He leaned down and gave her a tender kiss, which she quickly turned into a passionate one. Soon they broke apart and looked at each other not quite knowing what to say. Ray groaned and Mal let go of Inara and said, "I best get him to the infirmary, or he'll be dead before we get back to Newview."

Inara nodded and said, "Shall I help?"

Mal shook his head and said, "Wake Zoe and have her meet me there."

Inara walked out to get Zoe. Mal went over to Ray, and maneuvered Ray's body to a sitting position on the couch, and then got him up over his shoulder. Mal groaned at the weight and said, "Should'a waited till you were in the infirmary to shoot you."

Soon Mal had dumped Ray on the exam table, and Zoe was there a second after. She said, "I hear you've been shooting the crew Sir."

"That I have Zoe."

Zoe and Mal started working together to get the wounds fixed. Neither one was any kind of doctor, but they had both patched up people during battle. As they cut off Ray's pant leg Zoe said, "Have anything to do with Inara's face?"

Mal said, "Attempted rape."

Zoe stopped helping and said, "Are you sure you want to fix him?"

Mal got out some iodine and poured a little on both wounds. "Yeah. That way he can stand trial."

Zoe nodded and looked at the wounds. She said, "The shot to the calf went straight through. The other still has the bullet in it."

Mal concurred and got out some large tweezers. As he was digging around in the open wound Ray moaned in his sleep. Zoe was prepared to punch him if he woke up. Soon the bullet was out and Mal said, "Stitch him up."

Zoe nodded and started to do it. Mal looked around in the drawers and soon found a sedative. He put some of it in a needle, and shot it into Ray's arm. Mal said, "He should be out for a while. I'm gonna go head the ship back to Newview."

Zoe said, "Do you think that's wise Sir? What about the Alliance?"

Mal said, "Turns out the Alliance was never there."

"But River…"

"River lied."

Zoe looked surprised, but then slowly nodded. "Sneaky little thing, isn't she?"

"Let me know when it's done. Best strap him to the table in case I didn't give him enough."

"Yes Sir."

Mal went to the bridge and headed the ship in the direction of Newview. He sat in the pilot's chair for a few minutes with a big smile on his face. No matter what else had happened tonight, the thing that stood out as most important in his mind was that Inara had kissed him and said she didn't want anyone else. And suddenly nothing else seemed all that difficult to figure out.

Soon Zoe came up to the bridge and said, "It's done."

"You up for bein' the pilot tonight?"

"Are you going to see to Inara?"

Mal nodded. Zoe said, "Best let me have the chair then."

Mal got up, and Zoe sat down.

Mal went to Inara's shuttle, and knocked on the door. Inara said, "Come in."

He found her cleaning up blood off her carpet with some towels. He said, "Let me help."

He got down on his knees next to her and grabbed a towel to help her clean up the blood. They worked quietly together. When it was mostly done he looked over at her and said, "Inara, I….."

She waited and then he said, "I don't think you're a whore."

She gave him a crooked smile and covered his mouth with her hand. She said, "Don't lie to me Malcolm Reynolds, petty thief."

He gave her a crooked smile too, and didn't think it sounded nearly as bad as the last time she had called him that. He gave her a serious look and said, "I don't want to be with anyone else either."

She put her towel down and stood up. She held out her hand to help him up too. He took it and stood. She led him to her bedroom and then turned to start kissing him. He kissed her back, but as he felt her start to unbutton his shirt he pulled away. He said, "You sure 'bout this? After what Ray tried to do I would understand if…."

She shut him up with another kiss and continued to undo his clothes.

The next morning Mal woke up with a start, and realized he wasn't in his own bed. He looked beside him on the bed and saw Inara laying there looking at him. She smiled as she saw he was awake. He smiled back and gently touched her face. "You got a nasty bruise from Ray."

She said, "You know what? I don't even care. The only thing that matters is you, and the fact that you're here."

He gave her a small kiss and then lay back as he said, "I can't stay though. Gotta get up. We're headed back to Newview." 

She said, "I was so caught up in other things last night, that I forgot to ask about that. What about the Alliance?"

Mal sighed and got up to start putting on his clothes. He said, "River lied about it to make sure Simon had time to work on his vaccine."

Inara was shocked, but didn't know what to say. He was soon dressed and she said, "What are you going to do?"

"Deal with it."

She said, "Mal, you're not going to kick them off the ship are you? Because I don't think…"

Mal said, "I ain't kickin' no one off the ship. Between you and Kaylee, you'd think I need a vote to make a decision 'round here. And the way you're both frettin' over the Doc and River, you'd think I was some kind of monster."

She thought carefully about it and said, "I trust you. Go deal with it, and let me know if you need help."

Mal nodded and muttered to himself, "That's more like it." on his way out.

He went to the bridge and found Zoe still at the helm. He said, "How long till we get there?"

"About three hours."

He said, "You okay for 'bout another half hour?"

"Sure."

Mal went to the kitchen and saw no one was up. He went to the infirmary and saw that Ray was still passed out. He went to the hallway where the crew's quarters were and sat down in front of Simon's hatch. Ten minutes later Jayne came up from his quarters. He said, "Hey Mal, what are ya' doin'?"

"Waitin'."

Jayne looked around and said, "What for?"

"Kaylee and River."

Jayne said, "Umm….Okay. Can I go to breakfast?"

Mal nodded and Jayne walked away confused, but more concerned with his breakfast then anything else.

Ten minutes after that, Kaylee emerged from Simon's hatch and saw Mal sitting there in front of it. River was right below Kaylee and said, "What's wrong?"

Mal said, "Mornin' Kaylee. Go have some breakfast while I speak with River."

Kaylee was about eighty percent sure Mal was going to take her advice, and suddenly felt very sorry for both River and Simon. But she also thought it was the only solution to the problem. She looked down at River and said, "Cap'n wants to talk to you before breakfast. Go on back down and sit on the couch, and I'll see you in a few minutes."

River did as she was told, and Kaylee continued out to the hallway. She almost pleaded River's case, and wanted to tell Mal not to be too hard on her, but in the end she just walked to the kitchen.

Mal took a deep breath and walked down the ladder closing the hatch behind him. He looked at River over on the couch. She was wearing her usual floral print dress with no socks or shoes. He walked over and sat on the table across from the couch so that their knees were almost touching. He said, "You lied to me."

River cocked her head to the side and said, "She told you?"

He nodded. She said, "Simon's probably done anyway, and I miss him."

He tried to think of where to start. He said, "Did you ever hear the story of the boy who cried wolf?"

River thought about it and slowly nodded. She said, "Extremely old folk tale with a moral for little children."

Mal nodded. "That's right. What was the moral?"

River thought about it again and said, "If you lie about things, no one will believe you when you tell the truth?"

"That's right."

She looked at him and said, "You're saying I'm the boy?"

"I'm saying if you lie to me, I can't trust you. What if you'd lied before, and I didn't believe you when you said the Reavers were comin'? We could all be dead. I have to be able to trust my crew, River. You are never to lie to me again."

"But Simon…."

Mal shook his head. "Not a good enough excuse. I would have tried to work something out with Simon so he could work on the vaccine, and still stay aboard with us. But either way, it's not your place to interfere."

"I wanted to help him like he's helped me."

"I know, but this wasn't the way to do it. Now I need to do somethin' to make sure you remember this talk, and to make sure you ain't gonna lie to me no more."

River gave him a curious look. He said, "I'm here to give you a lickin'"

"That sounds unsanitary."

Mal was surprised she didn't already know what he was going to do. He pictured it in his mind and she gave a little gasp. She said, "You're going to spank me? Daddy says spanking is a brutal and outdated practice, and that it does the person getting spanked more harm then good."

"Maybe so, but I'm still gonna do it."

River glared at him and said, "I don't have to let you."

Mal knew because of the things that were done to her, she was better in a fight then him. He may have been stronger, but she knew his moves before he made them, and could counter with a better move that he wouldn't be expecting. Mal nodded in agreement and said, "You're right, but I'm thinkin' you're gonna."

"Why?"

"Because we're family now. You, me, Simon, Kaylee, Inara, Zoe, and even Jayne. We may bicker, and we may not even like one another every day, but we're still family. And because we're family, we trust each other, and we keep each other safe. But most important, we don't lie to each other. What you did was wrong, and I need you to learn not to do it again."

River nodded to herself. She said, "Simon doesn't trust our father anymore. He thinks Daddy doesn't care, and it makes him sad. He thinks you don't care either, but he's wrong."

Mal gave her a nod. She looked down at her hands in her lap and said, "Okay, but only because I know you don't want to."

Mal put out his hand to her, and she put her hand in his. He pulled her to standing, and quickly had her over his lap. Mal knew generally what should happen, but he had never actually spanked anyone before, and if anyone had been watching they would have been able to tell. He awkwardly started to put a hand on the side of her waist, and then moved it to her back instead. He looked at her bottom and thought to himself, 'Just get on with it.'

He raised his hand and brought it down on his intended target. He felt River jump slightly at the impact, and then did it again. This time she lay still. He gave her five more swats trying to move around enough not to hit the same spot twice in a row. By the eighth smack he thought it was odd that she wasn't making any noise. He had only been ten years old the last time he had been spanked, but he remembered that there was a lot of yelling and crying involved. He quickly figured out what the problem was, raised his hand higher, and brought it down with more force. River jumped again at that one.

River's mind kept going back and forth between what Mal was thinking, what Mal was doing, and what she was feeling. Thoughts of Simon and her family passed through her mind, along with thoughts of a new family. But once the swats got harder, she thought about the Academy, what they had done to her, and how much she hated everyone who had kept her there. And as the pain got worse she started thinking about a way out. Just as she was about to jam her fingernails into whatever she could reach of Mal's groin, he stopped and said, "All of us on board want to help you River. We want to help you get better, and recover from the things that happened to you. That means there needs to be trust, and I can't trust someone who lies to me. Do you understand why I'm doin' this?"

River's thoughts of the Academy went away, and she started to cry quietly as she said, "Because you can't trust me when I lie, and you can't help me get better if you don't trust me."

Mal nodded and said, "That's right."

Mal had given her ten of the harder swats, but had been baffled by her lack of response after that first jump, and so he had decided to stop to see if she understood his reasons. Now that he knew she did understand, he gave her eight more hard swats, and while he was spanking her she shook her head no, kicked her feet, wiggled to get her butt away from his hand, and said, "No more lying, no more lying, no more lying!"

Mal stopped and River lay still. He patted her back and said, "It's done."

She pushed herself up to standing and looked at him while putting her hands back to rub at her bottom. She said, "That hurt."

Mal nodded and said, "I reckon it did."

"But you're not mad."

"No."

"And you trust me again?"

"You plannin' to lie to me again?"

River shook her head no vehemently. He said, "Then I trust you for now. But you best be rememberin' this for a while, 'cause if we have to go over it again, I'll be doin' the same but more of it."

River nodded in understanding. Mal thought about the last thing Kaylee had said to him last night, and moved from sitting on the coffee table to sitting on the couch. He patted the seat beside him and said, "Come sit with me for a spell so I know you're feelin' better before we go eat some breakfast."

River wiped at her face and sat down next to Mal. He put his arm around her, and pulled her up next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and pulled her feet up to the couch so that her knees were by her chest. She said, "We're going to get Simon?"

"Yes."

"You're still mad at him."

"I'm tryin' not to be."

"He's going to save thousands of people."

"But at what cost? He could catch the orange death and die, or he could bring it back here to the rest of us."

River shook her head, "But he can't because then I'd be all alone."

Mal squeezed her shoulder and said, "No. You'd still have us."

Inara was the first one to arrive at the kitchen. She started some coffee, and sat down to wait. A few minutes later Jayne arrived. He looked at Inara's face and said, "What happened to you?"

"Ray tried to rape me."

Jayne paused for a minute at the news. Then he said, "He dead?"

"No, but he's in the infirmary with a couple of bullet holes."

"You want him dead?"

"No, it's fine, but thanks for the offer."

Jayne got himself some coffee and considered the matter over. It was his turn to cook, so he started to make breakfast for everyone. Jayne and Inara were eating when Kaylee arrived. She seemed distracted at first, but when she saw Inara she said, "Lordy Inara! What happened to your face?"

As she talked she walked over to Inara to get a better look, and to put a hand on her shoulder. Inara patted Kaylee's hand and said, "I'm fine really. It was Ray. He wanted to solicit my services, but I told him no. He didn't like that answer."

Kaylee glared and said, "Ta ma de hun dan!"

Inara smiled. "I agree, but Mal took care of it. He shot Ray. Twice."

Kaylee nodded and then said, "Are you sure you're all right?"

Inara's smile grew and she said, "Actually, I'm great."

"Great?"

Inara darted her eyes to Jayne and said, "I'll tell you later."

Kaylee suspected it had something to do with Mal, and just nodded. She got herself a plate, and started eating.

Mal and River had been sitting quietly for the past ten minutes when finally River said, "I'm hungry. Can we go eat now?"

Mal patted her shoulder and then let go of her, and said, "I'm a mite peckish myself."

Soon they got to the kitchen and saw everyone at the table except Ray and Zoe. Mal said, "I'll be right back."

He went to get Zoe. When River sat down, Jayne leaned over to her and said, "What was that all about? What'd he want to talk to you about?"

River said, "Lying."

"What about lying?"

"Not to do it."

Jayne looked confused for a second, and then said, "I don't get it. Have you been lying?"

Kaylee broke in and said with irritation, "Jayne! Leave her alone for goodness sake. It ain't none of your business."

Jayne ignored Kaylee and said with suspicion and a hit of a smile, "Mal don't take well to lying. What'd he do to you?"

River looked directly at Jayne for the first time that morning and said, "He didn't hit me in the head with a wrench and threaten to kill me."

Jayne got slightly red. He looked back at his plate and said, "I was just askin'. Ain't no need to bring that up."

Kaylee said, "Let's all just eat and wait to see what the Captain has to say."

As soon as everyone was quite Kaylee put her hand over River's hand on the table and gave it a little squeeze. River gave her a small smile of reassurance and started eating.

Zoe left the ship on auto pilot, and went to eat with everyone else. Once everyone was at the table Mal said, "We're headed to Newview, and we should be there in about two hours."

Jayne opened his mouth full of food and said, "What about the Alli…."

Mal cut him off, "The Alliance ain't there. We're only gonna be there for a few hours. Just long enough to drop off Ray, and pick up the doc."

Zoe said, "How are you planning to get Simon? He'll most likely be guarded."

Mal shrugged. "I'll ask nice to see the doctor that sold us the supplies, tell her we want some more, and then hold a gun to her head 'till she talks."

Zoe said, "Sir?"

Mal waited. Zoe continued, "Ray needs medical attention, and I'm assuming Inara wants to bring formal charges against him."

Inara nodded. Zoe said, "Jayne has been to the hospital before and he's seen the lay out. Maybe if Inara wouldn't mind being a little more dramatic then usual, Jayne could lead you to Simon unnoticed."

Zoe took a bite of her food and waited for Mal to decide. Mal gave her a smile and said, "Shiny."

The first four days Simon was at the hospital, he worked closely with Muriel. They spent almost every waking hour in the lab. Simon was often frustrated by the lack of equipment, and thought he could have found a vaccine already if he had been in a large Alliance hospital. At first he was appalled at their use of live rats for testing instead of simulators, but after the first day he became accustom to it.

The longer he knew Muriel the more impressed he was. She was twice his age, and had much more real life experience to bring to the table, which seemed to compliment Simon's Alliance technical knowledge. They both had respect for each other, and worked well together.

Simon had some stray thoughts of Serenity and his fellow crewmates, but they were few and far between, because his mind couldn't stop thinking of the virus and the puzzle he needed to solve. He was sure they were all doing fine without him, and only worried about River a few times. Then on the fifth day they had a breakthrough.

They had over fifty lab rats with various stages of the virus, and they had been testing trial vaccines on healthy rats every day, and then exposing them to the virus the following day. On the morning of the fifth day Muriel was testing the blood of the rats they had vaccinated two days ago. She checked all five rat's blood and then called to Simon. When Simon came over she said, "Look at this! There are blood samples from all five rats that were given vaccine 153."

Simon spent a good twenty minutes looking at the blood. When he was done he said, "It's working. The antibodies are reproducing exponentially, and I can't find a live virus in any of the samples."

Muriel gave him a huge smile and said, "We did it."

Simon shook his head. "You did it. That one was yours."

She shook her head too. "You helped and you know it. Before you came I was getting more and more desperate. Just knowing you were here to work with me, gave me enough motivation to look at the problem in a new light. I never would have come up with this without you here."

Simon wanted to believe this, but in his heart he knew it wasn't true. He said, "It may have taken you a while longer Muriel, but you would have come up with it eventually. You're a brilliant doctor."

Muriel gave him a slight bow and said, "Thank you. But given time, you would have come up with a viable vaccine too. Let's make some more 153 and test it out on some more rats. We should be ready to try it out on willing human subjects in two weeks if everything goes well."

"Two weeks?!" Simon said with disbelief.

Muriel said, "We may be close to the Alliance, but they won't lift a finger to help us, and don't often regulate us. There are at least ten people I know personally who have lost their whole family to this virus, and who haven't gotten it. They'll try it out whether it's been approved or not. And I'm one of them."

She lifted her shirt to show him a stomach free of orange scarring. Simon said with surprise, "I assumed you had already had it."

She put her shirt down and smiled at him again. "Now maybe I never will."

Simon thought about what she had said. He wondered if River and his folks were dead, if he would be willing to try out a risky vaccine when there would be a real possibility of death. He wasn't sure. Especially now that he was involved with Kaylee.

They worked long into the night making vaccine and testing rats. In the very early morning, Simon was falling asleep in his chair when he felt Muriel's hand on his shoulder. He jerked awake and she said, "Let's call it a night."

Simon yawned and said; "I'll see you first thing."

He went to his room and fell asleep quickly. That night Simon had a dream of his family. The dream started out happy. He was with his family before River had been sent to the Academy. Back when she was eight, and he was twelve.

Simon was trying to do his homework; but River kept bugging him. She had finished hers, and wanted him to play with her. She said, "Simon, aren't you done yet?"

"No."

"Do you need help?"

"Nooo."

"You're taking foreeeever!"

"It will just take me longer if you don't stop."

River got out a book and quietly read for five minutes sitting on the couch next to him. Then she said, "You got number three wrong."

Simon sighed and said, "If I play with you for fifteen minutes will you leave me alone?"

River put her book down and bounced a little on the couch. She clapped her hands and said, "Hide and Seek!"

Simon said with irritation, "Aren't you tired of that game? How about chess?"

River whined, "Noooo. I always win. I want to play Hide and Seek!"

"You don't always win!"

"Only because I let you win sometimes."

Simon gave her a tolerant smile and said, "Brat."

She got up and clapped her hands. She said, "Count to fifty!"

She scampered off to hide and Simon counted out loud in a big voice at first, and then trailed off after he got to ten. Then he picked his book back up, and started his homework again.

Fifteen minutes later, problem number three was corrected, and he was done. He put his books away, and went to look for her. He talked loudly about trying to find her as he looked in all her favorite hiding spots, because he knew she would start to giggle if she was close and could hear. Then a few minutes later he started to feel just slightly uneasy, because she hadn't been in any of her favorite hiding spots. He then stopped talking so much, and searched the house in earnest. When he couldn't find her his unease turned to fear. He went to his father's study and knocked on the door.

His father said, "Come in."

Simon said, "I'm sorry to bother you while you're working, but I can't find River. Did she come in here?"

His father gave him a curious look and said, "Whatever are you talking about? River has been away at school for two years now. We just got another letter from her yesterday. Are you feeling alright son?"

Simon looked down at himself. He wasn't twelve, he was twenty. It didn't seem odd to him. He looked at his father and said, "Something isn't right at that school. She isn't happy. We need to have her come home for a visit, and make sure she's okay."

"Don't be ridiculous Simon. She's having a fine time. I know you miss her, and I know you've had your moments of jealousy, but why can't you try to just be happy for her?"

"Why won't you listen to me? She's not happy! The letters don't sound like her at all."

"Not this again! I'm done listening to this garbage. If you can't stop this, I'm going to have to ask you to move out, and finish your residency somewhere else."

Simon stormed off, and as he closed the doors to his father's office he found he was in a jail cell. He looked around him, and knew he had failed in his attempt to find his sister and free her from the Academy. He felt like crying. Knowing she was hurting, and knowing there was nothing he could do. Then the guard came and took him to his father who had just paid his bail.

Simon kept his head down at first, but then looked up at his father. His father was wearing the usual expression of disappointment, and anger that he had worn for the past year. Simon started an explanation, but his father cut him off saying, "I don't want to hear it again. You're sister is fine. You are the one causing this family problems. You are the one who is in need of help. If you continue with these ridiculous accusations, your mother and I will have no choice but to turn our backs on you. You have become a social embarrassment, and we will not tolerate it. If you get arrested in your foolhardy endeavors again, I will not come for you."

His father turned and left the room without waiting to see if Simon followed. Then he heard knocking.

Simon woke with a start. He heard someone knocking on his door. He put a hand on his head and called out, "Yes?"

He heard Muriel's voice say, "It's your wake up call."

"Thank you."

Simon lay in bed thinking about his dream. It was reasonably close to his real life experience. He thought about his father, and wondered if his father ever thought about him. He knew his mother thought of both him and River, but she would never cross their father, because he brought them the most prestige socially. Simon rolled to his side and thought about River, and how much happier she seemed to be since Miranda. He smiled as he remembered her and Kaylee playing Hide and Seek exactly a week after the events of Miranda. Then he thought about everyone aboard Serenity, and found that he missed them. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized the people aboard that ship had done more to help him and his sister then his parents had done for years. The crew had risked their lives for him and his sister on more then one occasion, and he knew they would do it again.

He sat up and soon stood up. He went and got in the shower to get ready for the day. As he was washing he wondered what they were all doing, and found that he missed not just River and Kaylee, but all of them. He gave a short laugh and said to himself, "I think I'll even be glad to see Mal, even if he's livid."

Then as he was drying off he had another thought. 'I never even doubted that they would come back for me. My own father can't be counted on, but Mal can. I know he won't ever leave his crew behind. He's proved it to me more then once.'

As Simon was getting dressed he shook his head and wondered why he was thinking about the people on the ship so much today, when he hadn't thought much about them for the past five days. He brushed his hair and decided it must be because the puzzle his head had been working on was mostly solved. He brushed his teeth and tried to focus on what he planned to do to help Muriel that day.

Two hours later he was in the lab looking at blood samples with Muriel when the door to the lab was shoved open hard enough to slam on the wall. Both Muriel and Simon jumped slightly, and turned to see Mal and Jayne in the doorway. Mal looked right at Simon but didn't say anything. Mal calmly started walking towards Simon, while Jayne stayed by the door and shut it. Simon heard Muriel pushing a button and saying urgently, "Security!"

Simon couldn't seem to break eye contact with Mal, but he said, "No! No security. It's fine, they're with me."

Muriel wasn't sure she should, but she pushed the button again and said, "False alarm guys, we're just fine."

Mal kept coming closer, and Simon felt his stomach starting to twist. He was breathing harder, and starting to sweat as he watched Mal. Soon Mal was right next to him. Mal leaned down so he was eye to eye with Simon. Simon leaned back as far as he could in his chair, but Mal just leaned forward into Simon's personal space. Then Mal gave him a smile that wasn't very friendly and said; "You're done here. We're going back to Serenity right now, and then you and I will be discussin' leaving the ship in the middle of the night."

Mal stood up straight and took a step back. Simon gave a nervous nod and said, "I'll just wrap things up here and….."

Mal interrupted, "No."

Simon said, "But I really….."

Mal leaned down into Simon's personal space again and said quietly, "I really don't like repeatin' myself."

Simon looked over his shoulder at Muriel and said, "I'm going to have to go back to our ship now. I'll give you a call in a few hours, and maybe you could arrange to have my things brought to the dock."

Mal stood back up and waited. Muriel said, "Sure, but you don't have to go back with them. If you want I'll call security for you."

Mal crossed his arms and just looked at Simon. Simon looked at Mal and shook his head without even thinking about it. "No. Thank you, but I'll be fine. I'll call you soon."

Mal gave a short nod of approval at this decision, and then grabbed Simon by the shirt. He hauled him out of his chair and then let him go. He gave him a slight shove towards the door where Jayne was waiting and said, "Good choice."

They went single file with Jayne taking the lead, and Mal brining up the rear. Soon they were in the hospital's lobby again where Inara was still loudly yelling at various hospital staff about 'backwater moons'. She was telling them to get her in touch with 'someone high up' in the Alliance so she could make a formal complaint against Ray, who had been taken to an exam room.

Jayne leaned up against the wall where he had first been standing when they came in. Mal leaned close to Jayne and whispered, "About another ten minutes, and then give her the signal to get out."

Jayne gave Mal a nod, and Mal turned to Simon. Simon was starring at Inara trying to figure out what was going on. Mal tapped him on the shoulder. When Simon looked at him Mal said, "Come on."

Mal walked towards the front door, and looked back once to make sure Simon was following. Mal took Simon to the mule, which was parked next to the hover sled. Mal got on, and waited for Simon to get on behind him. Simon thought about trying to talk to Mal, but instead just sighed and got on the mule too.

As the noisy mule headed for Serenity, Simon thought, 'Times up Simon. You knew this would be happening, so get your act together. I'll just tell Mal why I had to do it. Then if he wants to yell or punch me, I guess there isn't much to do besides hope it's over with quickly. And then there's Kaylee to contend with. Maybe I should have bought her a gift to bring back. I wonder how angry she's going to be.'

Simon quietly stewed over these issues, but they were back at Serenity before he was ready to be. As they pulled in they saw that Kaylee and River were in the cargo bay basically waiting around for them. As soon as he was off the mule River was in front of him with a big smile. He took off his goggles, and she gave him a big hug. He hugged her back and said, "Hi River, how was your week?"

She squeezed him tight and said, "I missed you so much."

He hugged her tight back and said, "I missed you too. I even had a dream about you last night."

River let go of him and looked at him. "Not a good one."

Simon gave her a wry look. "No. Not the best."

He put his hands on both sides of her face, and pulled her head towards him to give her a kiss on her forehead. He let her go and then looked over at Kaylee. Kaylee was standing a few feet away with her arms crossed. She said quietly, "I'm glad you're back, and I'm glad you're safe, but what you done was wrong, and I ain't forgiven you yet."

Simon didn't really want to talk with her in front of everyone, and really didn't even know what to say. He said, "I'm sorry about leaving the way I did Kaylee. But I….well I explained why I left."

Mal had been standing waiting for Simon to say his hellos, and now said to Kaylee, "Call the hospital and arrange to have Simon's things brought back to the ship. Inara and Jayne should be back in less than fifteen minutes. Once they get aboard prepare the ship for take off." 

"You want me to wake Zoe to fly us out?"

"No, let her sleep. But if we have some trouble, wake her before interrupting me. I should be up to the bridge in half an hour. Anyone who interrupts me and Simon best have a damn good reason."

Kaylee nodded in understanding. Mal turned to Simon and said, "Your quarters. Now."

Simon rolled his eyes at Mal's tone and curt orders, but headed in the direction of the rooms he shared with River. Mal followed closely behind. Simon opened the hatch and went down into the rooms first. Mal followed and locked the hatch behind him.

Mal had been thinking for the past three hours about what he wanted to say to Simon, but that still didn't make it easy. Mal opened his mouth to start and then closed it again. He took a deep breath and said, "While you were gone I had a talk with Kaylee."

Simon had been ready for loud yelling, and was still waiting for the explosion. He nodded warily. Mal continued, "And she brought up somethin' that…. Well I guess it's somethin' I ain't been doin' right. You and I don't talk much unless it's about a job, or doctorin'. And maybe you think that means you and your sister are just crew to me. But after all the things we've been through together, after all the times we've put our lives at risk for each other, I think we both need to admit we've become family."

Simon hadn't been expecting this type of reaction from Mal at all, and couldn't think of anything to say besides, "Um…. I suppose I can see that."

Mal gave a short nod, and then started to walk into the living area as he took off his long brown coat. He got it off and draped it over the back of a chair. He turned back to Simon and said, "Now I know we've never talked much about your family, but Kaylee told me your pa has disowned you and your sister. Is that true?"

Simon looked away and gave a slight nod, not wanting to think about it. Mal said, "Well that ain't never gonna happen on this ship. Maybe a month ago I would have said different, but not anymore. I ain't gonna dump you and River on some planet and let you fend for yourselves. I ain't gonna leave you behind if you get caught by someone or get lost. If you do somethin' troublesome or shameful I ain't gonna turn my back on either of you."

Mal stopped and Simon thought about what he had said for a few short seconds. He found he was more emotional about that then he'd like to admit. He looked at Mal and cleared his throat so he wouldn't sound close to tears as he said, "Thank you Mal. I really appreciate you telling me that. I know I speak for River as well when I say we feel the same about everyone here. We're grateful, especially to you, for keeping us aboard even though you knew we were fugitives from the start."

Mal gave a short nod and said, "Good, now we got that settled, I also need you to understand that just 'cause you're family, don't mean you're not crew. Because you're part of my crew, you and River follow my orders, even when you don't like them. You don't have to follow them blindly. If you disagree, you can tell me about it, but the final decision lies with me."

Simon didn't like that but nodded in understanding. Simon had always understood that this was Mal's ship, that Mal was Captain, and that Mal was just a natural leader.

Mal said, "Now we need to talk about you runnin' off in the middle of the night."

Simon felt himself starting to blush. He wouldn't have thought that possible an hour ago. He had been ready to defend his position to the end, but after the things Mal had just said, he found he was ashamed of the way he had left. He looked away again and mumbled, "I needed to help those people, and I was worried you would try to stop me."

Mal unbuckled his holster belt, and took it off with the gun still in it. He set that on top of his coat over the chair. Simon noticed this and started to feel uneasy about what might happen. Mal said, "But you weren't worried about what I would do once you got back?"

Simon took an unconscious step away from Mal and said, "Well yes actually I was."

"So you weighed both options and still decided to leave?"

Simon was now bright red and muttered, "You were unreasonable when I tried to help them the first time, and I doubted you were going to change your position on the issue."

Mal started to pace back and forth in front of Simon. He said, "You're right. I wouldn't have let you go work in the hospital, but if you'd told me how important it was to you, I would have tried to make some kind of arrangements. You could have stayed in contact with them, and you could have worked with them from here for as many hours a day as you wanted."

"We wouldn't have even been able to accomplish half of what we did that way!"

"Maybe so, but you would have been safe, and that's more important to me. But that ain't even the point. The point is that you ran off in the middle of the night specifically because you knew that if you asked, I would have said no."

Simon was getting frustrated and angry. "I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions. I don't need your permission to work with other doctors."

Mal half shouted, half laughed incredulously, "Yeah, you do! And you know you do. If you didn't need my permission, you would have been a man about it and come told me to my face what you was plannin' instead of sneaking off like some adolescent."

Simon could hear the truth in those words, but couldn't or wouldn't admit it. He shook his head no and said, "Fine. You're angry about what I did. I think I did the right thing, and you disagree. So what now?"

Mal stopped pacing and stepped up close to Simon. He said, "I sincerely don't wanna do this Simon, but I gotta do somethin' to make sure you ain't gonna do it again."

Simon had been expecting this and felt almost relieved that it was going to be over and done with quickly. He closed his eyes, turned his head a little to the side, and tightened his stomach muscles. Then he said, "I understand. Go ahead."

Mal waited for a few seconds until Simon opened one eye. Then he said, "I ain't gonna punch you."

Simon darted his eyes over to Mal's gun that was still draped over the back of the chair. Mal sounded irritated as he said, "I just got done tellin' you we're family. I ain't gonna shoot you neither."

Simon just looked confused and said, "Then what did you mean?"

Mal took Simon's upper arm and started walking towards the couch. Simon didn't put up a fight, not knowing what was going to happen. Once he got to the couch Mal sat and pulled Simon down over his lap all in one move. Simon immediately understood what was happening, and tried very hard to get up. Mal struggled to keep him down, and said, "Quit your fussin', I ain't even started yet."

Simon was soon in a complete panic and continued to struggle wildly as he yelled out, "NO! No Gorram way! This is NOT happening!"

Mal had only heard Simon swear one other time, and knew he was more then just a little upset about this new turn of events. When Mal saw that Simon wasn't going to settle down and let him spank him, he got irritated. He got a better grip on Simon and maneuvered him until he got one leg over both of Simons, and after two tries, got one of Simon's hands behind his back. By the time Simon was pinned, both him and Mal were breathing hard. Mal said, "This IS happening, so just settle down."

Simon shook his head violently. Mal raised his hand high, and brought it down as hard as he could. Simon grunted in surprise and pain, and when he felt a second spank he yelled in frustration, "Aarrrr!"

Mal spanked hard and fast while Simon grunted and still struggled to get away. Simon quickly realized how painful a spanking could be, as each swat jarred his whole body, and hurt not just the skin, but the muscles in his butt too. His emotions had been near the surface before the spanking started, because of his talk with Mal, and while his strongest emotion right now was anger, guilt and shame were just under the surface.

After about thirty swats Mal noticed Simon's struggles became less premeditated and were now more of a reaction to the pain then an effort to escape his grasp. Mal stopped and said, "Now, just so we're clear, why don't you tell me why I'm doin' this."

Simon lay there pinned, hurt, and angry for a few seconds thinking about what to say. He thought, 'Why!? Because you're a ke wu de lao bao jun, that's why. Calling me an adolescent! Treating me like a child! And now you want me to be a 'good boy' and recite my wrong doings to you? Of all the ridiculous, asinine…..'

Simon's thoughts were interrupted with another solid swat, and Mal said, "I asked you a question."

Simon snipped, "Because in your infinite wisdom, you've decided you're God on this ship, and that you have the right to be judge and jury over all proceedings!"

Mal shook his head. "You know Doc, for someone who's had so much book learnin', you really ain't all that bright sometimes. It was a simple question."

Mal started spanking again, and Simon yelled, "You know what's simple! Ahh! Is you thinking….. Mmmmff… that this will do any good! Aahh!"

Mal was getting annoyed and kept spanking as he said, "That sounds like a challenge Simon. I ain't never met a challenge I wouldn't take on."

Simon struggled wildly at that pronouncement for all of ten seconds, and then couldn't do much besides try to squirm his butt out of the line of fire without success. After Mal had given Simon another twenty swats he stopped again and said, "Let's try again. Why do you think I'm holdin' you down and smackin' you on the rear?"

Simon was in enough pain now not to say the first thing that came to his mind, which was, 'Because you're just plain mean.' He took a deep breath and swallowed his pride. "Because I left the ship without asking."

Mal decided to try something a little different to get Simon in a more accepting frame of mind. He said, "Did you tell River you were leaving?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Because she's my sister, and she would worry about…me...."

Simon trailed off as he realized the connection Mal was trying to make. Mal said, "That's right, you told her because you're family, and you didn't want her to worry. But I'm telling you that we're family too now, so the same rules apply, and whether you want to believe it or not, ALL of us were worried about you. What if you've caught this orange death? What if the Alliance had decided to come pay a call, and gotten a hold of you? Did you even think about those things before you left?"

Simon shook his head and whispered, "No."

"'Cause I did. I thought about it every day you were gone, and worried over you."

Simon didn't want to hear that. That brought his guilt to the surface. Mal continued, "Kaylee was cryin' when she showed me your note. She pleaded your case to me wantin' me to go easy on you. Both Kaylee and Inara were concerned I was gonna kick you off the ship, and let me know they wouldn't approve. And your sister actually lied, and told me the Alliance had arrived on the moon the morning you left, because I was about to drag your ass home. So now I'm askin' you again. Why am I doin' this?"

Simon wanted to block the whole thing out. He wanted to get his anger back, because that was helping him not to notice the way his butt was throbbing. But after Mal's speech, Simon couldn't be angry anymore. He just felt guilt and shame at what he had done. He tried not to sound like he was about to cry, but failed as he said, "Because we're family, and I…. I made everyone worry."

"That's right." Mal brought his hand down five more times, and Simon tried very hard not to cry.

Mal said, "But it's also 'cause what you did was cowardly and underhanded. You knew I wouldn't let you do it, so you snuck off to avoid me. That ain't gonna happen again is it?"

Simon gave a barely audible, "No."

"Good. Now we're gonna practice you followin' my orders even when you don't want to. I'm gonna let you up, and you're gonna take down your pants and get back over my lap."

Simon couldn't stop the tears that finally fell at that pronouncement. He got out a ragged plea, "Please Mal…. Captain…. Please no."

Mal felt bad hearing the pleading, but believed this was a lesson Simon needed to learn both for his own safety, and for the general safety of the crew. He let go of Simon's hand that was behind his back, and took his leg off Simon's legs so that Simon was free to get up. Mal said, "I ain't doin' this 'cause I want to. I'm doin' it to keep you alive. Now do as I said."

Simon slowly got up, but kept his head down unable to meet Mal's eyes. The thought of taking off his pants, and then willingly getting back in position to be spanked some more was so abhorrent to him, that he found it impossible to reach his hands up and undo his pants. Mal waited patiently for about three minutes and said, "If you like, I can pull you down and keep smackin' you 'til you agree to do it."

Simon's hands immediately went to the button on his pants. Soon they fell to the floor, and then again Simon stood there unable to lay himself over Mal's lap. Mal sighed and said, "I'd think you'd want this over quick like."

Simon definitely wanted it over. He hesitated for only one more second, and then had to choke back a sob as he awkwardly lay himself over Mal's lap. Mal patted his back once and said, "Very good." Mal rested his hand on Simon's back and continued; "Now I've said my piece on this whole matter, and when I'm done here, I won't be brinin' it up again. It will be over and done, and you'll have a clean slate. You hear me?"

Simon gave a nod. Mal said, "But don't think I won't do it again if you give me cause."

Simon felt the hand Mal had been resting on his back now putting pressure on him to keep him in place. Mal quickly yanked Simon's underwear down to mid thigh, and while Simon was still protesting this by yelling 'NO!' Mal brought his hand down to connect loudly with Simon's butt. Mal wasn't putting as much force behind his swings now, but Simon didn't notice, because the sharp stinging pain to his skin seemed to double when it was bare.

For the next few seconds the only sounds in the room were loud smacking, and crying that started off soft but soon grew louder. Simon didn't actively try to get up, but he couldn't be still either. While still crying Simon got out a few 'I'm sorry's', but not much else. Mal kept spanking Simon until his butt was a deep dark red with a few darker spots that would become small bruises. But Mal wasn't paying as much attention to the condition of Simon's butt as he was listening to Simon's crying and waiting for it to sound sincere.

Once Mal was sure the lesson had been learned, and that Simon was truly repentant, he stopped just as suddenly as he had started. Then before Simon could even register that the spanking was over, Mal pulled his underwear back into place. Mal wasn't exactly sure what to do next. Comforting River after her spanking had seemed easy and natural for him, but he wasn't sure what Simon would want or need from him now that the hard part was over. He patted Simon's back a few times and said quietly, "It's done."

Simon wiped at his face with one hand and then pushed himself up to standing. He quickly got his pants off the floor and put them back on. He couldn't stop crying, and wouldn't look at Mal. He was about to flee to his bedroom when Mal stood up too. Mal put a hand on Simon's shoulder and gave it a squeeze as he said, "Look at me."

Simon darted a glance up and then back down. Mal said, "I… I think there's somethin' else I need to make clear today."

Simon visibly winced. Mal said, "I haven't said it before, but I guess you should know that I have a lot of respect for you."

Simon couldn't believe his ears and darted his eyes back to Mal's and kept his gaze. Mal continued, "What you done for your sister. Getting' her out of that place, and goin' against your family to do it. Givin' up your hopes and dreams to save her. That's somethin' a lot of men couldn't do."

Simon burst into fresh tears at this, and put his head in his hands. Mal pulled Simon into an awkward hug, and said, "And that ain't all, you're the best doc I've ever known. You know what you're doing, and do it well. You're good to Kaylee and treat her right. You've never backed down in a fight, and you protect your sister with everything you have."

Mal was quiet for a few minutes letting Simon cry. "I'm tellin' you this 'cause I want you to know that just 'cause you messed up once, don't mean I look at you any different. I think you're a good man, and I'm proud to have you as one of my crew."

Simon continued to cry, but at the same time soaked up the words, and the hug that were being given. He couldn't believe Mal had said all those nice things about him. His own father had disowned him for trying to save River, but Mal had just told him it made him a good person, and one he could respect. Simon knew that even though he fought with Mal pretty often, that he did have a lot of respect for the man. He just never knew until today that the feeling was mutual. But that in turn seemed to make what he had done that much worse.

Mal didn't think the hug was all that awkward now, and Simon was making no move to get out of it. They stood that way until Simon's crying tapered off. Then when it was quiet in the room other then the occasional sniffle Mal said, "I have to go get us off this planet."

Simon stepped back, wiped his face again, and nodded while he said, "Of course. Sorry…."

Mal shook his head and put both hands on Simon's shoulders. When Simon looked at him Mal said, "Ain't no need to be sorry for cryin' or wantin' comfort. Why don't you go lie down for a while? I'm sure you'll feel better once you've made up with Kaylee."

Simon nodded and started to head to his room. Then, while Mal was putting his holster belt back on, he said, "Simon."

Simon turned around and Mal said with obvious discomfort, "For the next week, until we're sure you don't have the sickness, I don't want you kissin' Kaylee, or doin' anything else with her that might infect her too."

Simon said, "Okay. I know I don't have it, but I'll keep my physical touching to a minimum with everyone on the crew for a week, just to be safe."

Mal gave him a curt nod and put on his coat. Then he said, "I'll expect to see you at dinner, so we can all discuss our next job."

Simon didn't feel up to seeing anyone, but gave Mal a nod and said, "Okay."

Mal went to the ladder and left Simon to himself. Simon went into his bedroom and lay down face first on the bed. He couldn't help himself from reaching back and rubbing at his butt for a few minutes. The whole experience seemed a little surreal, but the pain was still very real. Then just as he gave up and put his hands up by his pillow he heard the hatch opening.

He stayed where he was, not sure who it would be. Soon River came in his room as she knocked on the door. She went and sat on the bed right next to him. She looked down at his face, which was turned in her direction. He waited for her to say something, but she just sat looking for a while. Then she put a hand on the top of his head and patted it with comfort. She eventually looked off into the distance and said, "Daddy, our father, he's not a very good man is he Simon?"

Simon gave her a sigh and said, "I don't know River."

"Yes you do, you just don't want to tell me."

"I think he's made a lot of mistakes in his life, and I don't think his moral judgement is accurate."

"You're right. I didn't want to believe it, but you're right."

They were quiet for a while, then River said quietly, "I said I would behave while you were gone, but I wasn't very good. I lied to the Captain, and made everyone worry about the Alliance."

Simon half sat up, and half leaned against the wall, and pulled River into a hug. He said, "Mal told me. I appreciate you trying to protect me River, but I don't want you lying to the Captain any more."

She nodded and said even more quietly, "He spanked me too."

Simon pushed her away far enough to look in her face. He felt himself getting truly angry and said; "Mal spanked you?"

River nodded. Simon said with rage, "He had no right. No right to touch you at all! Not ever!"

River shook her head and put both her hands on the sides of Simon's face and said, "No Simon. You're wrong. He was right to do it. What I did was wrong, and in a way it made me feel better when it was over. I felt more like this was home now. More like we weren't gonna be alone anymore. Daddy always was against it, but I think he was wrong about that too." 

"I can't stand that he hit you River. It's…. I just can't."

River gave him a small smile and said, "I love that you protect me Simon, but it wasn't all that bad. Not like what he did to you. He only gave me a few swats, and I couldn't even feel it anymore by bedtime. I promise you it made me feel better more then it made me feel bad."

Simon was somewhat mollified hearing that her spanking had been much less severe then his. He said, "Still, I'll have to tell him I don't want it to ever happen again."

River glared at him and said, "You were gone. You left me in his care and told me to follow his orders. Why did you do that if you didn't trust him."

Simon backpedaled, "I do trust him. That's not it, it's that…."

"That he spanked me, and you can't stand the thought of me in pain, because I've had so much pain already in my seventeen years."

Simon nodded. River said, "It wasn't the same as the pain at the Academy. Not at all. You have to trust me Simon, and let it go. The Captain did the right thing for me, and even if you don't like it, I think he did the right thing for you too."

Simon almost kissed her forehead again, but remembered he said he wouldn't, and just patted her shoulder before lying back down. "Okay River. You win. As if there was any doubt that you would."

She patted his head one more time and said, "I'm going to go talk Kaylee into coming to see you now."

Simon shook his head, "I don't think she…."

River got up and said, "You won't win this one either."

She walked away as he kept protesting. Once she was out of his sight he gave up, and just groaned. He worried over what to say to her, and if she would forgive him. He tried to come up with a reason for his eyes to be puffy and red, and was glad he had agreed not to sleep with Kaylee for a week so his butt would be back to normal before she could see it. It seemed like almost no time had passed when he heard the hatch open again. Then Kaylee was there in the room with him.

Before he could gather his thoughts to say anything, she lay down in front of him, and wrapped her arms around his middle. He rolled to his side so they were facing each other and Kaylee rested her head on his chest. She said, "I missed you."

He was surprised she seemed to have forgiven him, but was glad too. He hugged her back; "I missed you too. Every day."

She said quietly, "It hurt me the way you left."

Simon felt a wave of guilt and held her close as he said, "I'm so very sorry. I swear to you it won't happen again."

She gave a slight nod and said, "I believe you."

She looked up at him and said, "Let me see."

Simon wasn't sure what she meant. "See what?"

"Your backside."

Simon got bright red, because she obviously already knew what had happened. He said, "How do you know?"

"'Cause I suggested it to the Captain in the first place."

"You what?!"

Kaylee gave him a glare and said, "Are you tellin' me you don't think you deserved it, because I can leave if you like."

Simon could tell she was angry and very serious. He looked down and thought about it. After a few long minutes he eventually shook his head no. She said, "So let me see." 

Simon felt defensive, "No."

"It ain't like I never seen it before. It's a cute little backside."

"Why do you want to see it?"

Kaylee looked down and said, "To make sure."

Simon made no move to let her look and waited for more of an explanation. "To make sure it was done right."

Simon had heard her talk of her family often enough to know she got spanked as a kid, or whupped as she called it. He eventually undid his pants, rolled onto his stomach and pulled them down for her to see. She made a noise of sympathy, and couldn't stop herself from putting a hand on the skin to feel how warm it was. He winced slightly at her touch, and she took her hand away. She lay back down and said, "Okay."

He pulled his clothes back up and said, "Okay what?"

"It was done right." She stated simply.

Simon couldn't help but smile at her. He said, "So you forgive me now?"

"I do." She leaned in to kiss him, but he put a hand up to stop her.

He said, "Then I guess this is a good time to tell you Mal said no sex or even kissing for a week, so we can be sure I don't have the orange death."

Kaylee sputtered, "What! Why that's none of his concern! It's already been a week, and now I'm supposed to wait a week more! Of all the irritatin' things I've heard recently, that's the most!"

Simon chuckled and said, "Serves you right for suggesting what you did."

Kaylee punched his arm and said, "Oh, like you're gonna be happy to wait a week."

Simon shook his head, and pulled her into a closer hug as he said, "I'm happy just to be here with you. At home."

She let that sink in for a moment, and then hugged him back knowing it was true.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: This one is for my friend Kathy's birthday. Thanks for all the encouragement with my writing, your wonderful stories, and your friendship. This story takes place a month after my story 'The Orange Death', and if you haven't read it yet, you might not get some of the references for this story. For those of you who want to know what the Chinese phrases mean, you can go to this website, which is where I found them:

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Daddy Will Come For Us

Kaylee wrenched Simon's arm further up his back and said teasingly, "Say it."

Simon sighed, knowing he was beat, and said, "You win."

Kaylee said, "Told ya."

She let go of his arm, and got up from her position of sitting on his back. She held out a hand to help him up, and he refused to take it. He stood up on his own, and Kaylee could tell he was unhappy. She immediately felt bad, and wondered if she should have let him win, but decided that would have been dishonest. So instead she walked to him and put her arms around his neck. She leaned in and whispered, "I could kiss it and make it better."

Simon took a step back as he was still pouting and said, "If I had known you were going to fight dirty, I wouldn't have said I could pin you."

Kaylee said indignantly, "You outweigh me, you're taller, and have more upper body strength. How did you think I was gonna win? Do you think my brothers were fightin' fair when I learned how to wrestle?"

"You pulled my hair!"

Kaylee shrugged unrepentant and said, "And then you let go of my arm."

River had been sitting reading a book on the couch beside them, and she piped up with, "I told you she would win."

Simon said, "No you didn't….."

But then as he thought about it. "…. You mean at breakfast today?"

River looked up at him and said, "Yes."

Simon had to think about that for a few seconds. That morning at breakfast, Kaylee had told a story about her older brother trying to take her father's vehicle out for a joy ride one afternoon, and how she had stopped him from doing it, by wrestling him to the ground. When Kaylee was done talking River had turned to Simon and said quietly, "You won't win."

Simon had said, "What won't I win?"

River had just looked at him with a mischievous smile and then turned to her food. Everyone was used to River's odd comments, and no one thought much of it. Now Simon was blown away that River had known hours ago that he and Kaylee would start arguing about that story.

A few minutes ago Simon had come into the room and found Kaylee and River relaxing in the lounge together. Simon had sat next to Kaylee and whispered in her ear, that maybe they could spend the afternoon in his quarters. Kaylee had smiled at him but said she was spending time with River. Simon had joked that he could pick her up and take her there. Kaylee had also been joking and said if he tried it, he would end up on the floor just like one of her brothers would have if they had tried to make her do something she didn't want to do. Simon had doubted she could take him. It had escalated, and eventually Kaylee had pushed Simon into a friendly wrestling match to prove her point. He had quickly lost.

Now Simon just looked at River and said, "You knew?"

River looked back at her book.

Kaylee went up to Simon again and rubbed her hand on his arm as she said, "Don't be mad. I'm sorry, and I'll make it up to you if you want."

Simon's pride was a little hurt, but he wasn't well known for his physical fighting abilities, so it wasn't too bad. He put his hands around her waist and said, "I don't know… I think you pulled some of my hair out…. It gave me a headache."

Kaylee rolled her eyes and said, "You can even carry me if you like."

Simon smiled and was about to pick her up, when they all heard Mal's voice over the speakers. "Kaylee to the bridge please, some lights just came on, and somthin' might'a broke."

Kaylee gave Simon a quick kiss on the cheek and said, "Tonight." before she ran towards the bridge.

That night Mal left Zoe on the bridge to pilot through the night. He went to Inara's shuttle and knocked on the door. He heard her say, "Come in."

Mal walked in, still amazed each and every time that his relationship with Inara had become what he had always wanted it to be. They had been together for a month now, and Mal was extremely happy about it. He smiled at her and went in for a kiss. She kissed him back, and very soon they had found their way to the bed.

Later that evening they were both lying in bed together, and Mal was almost asleep when he heard Inara ask quietly, "What am I doing?"

Mal was suddenly very awake. He rolled over onto his side and looked at her in the dim light. She was lying on her back and staring up at the ceiling. Mal propped his head up on his hand with his elbow on a pillow. He said, "Having second thoughts 'bout us?"

She looked over at him, and mimicked his position. She leaned in and kissed him once before leaning back. She said, "No."

"Good."

"I've been thinking about my life in general. Now that I'm not seeing clients anymore, what am I doing?"

Mal smiled and teased, "Makin' me happy?"

Inara glared at him and said, "As much as I love you, and want you to be happy, my sole purpose in life will never be to make you happy. I have to have some kind of vocation, and if I'm not a companion, then what am going to do?"

Mal realized she was serious and said, "You've helped with our jobs before…."

Before he could finish Inara gave him a firm, "No." 

Mal just looked at her with a slightly hurt look. Inara said, "I can't be part of the crew Mal. I can't take orders from you while we're together. It won't work. And while I have quite a bit of money set aside, and can pay for this shuttle for many years to come, I can't just sit around with nothing to do."

Mal nodded understanding the truth in what she was saying. He could be okay with her both as a lover and crewmember, but he understood that she couldn't. And he would hate being in her position with too much idle time and no goal or focus. He said, "I'll think on it, and let you what I conjure."

She smiled and said, "Thanks. Now go to sleep. I didn't realize you were still awake when I was mumbling, and I want you to be well rested for your meeting with that pilot tomorrow."

Mal said, "Only if you sleep too." and pulled her towards him so he could hold onto her with her head resting on his shoulder.

The next morning at breakfast Mal said, "We'll be landing on Fansol in about an hour. Jayne and Zoe are with me. We're supposed to meet Belinda Lamb in two hours at her house in the blue zone. We're way too close to the Alliance for my taste, but we've had three bad pilots over the past month, and I aim to get a good one this time. She is highly recommended, so let's hope all goes well. If things go well, she said she could be ready to go with us by this evening."

Inara said, "Since we're at a bigger more civilized moon, I think I'll take my shuttle and do some shopping this morning."

Mal shook his head. "It ain't a good idea to go gallivanting about. We may need to leave fast."

Inara gave him a look and said, "But if things go well, then we'll be just sitting here for hours doing nothing but waiting for you."

Mal clenched his jaw, knowing where this was heading. Sometimes he really did wish she were a part of his crew, so he could just say no and be obeyed. He said, "I would strongly suggest you don't."

Inara said, "Be reasonable Mal. When are we gonna get this close to civilization again? There are things I really want to buy while I'm here."

"You think I'm not being reasonable? What trinkets are you thinking on buyin' here that you can't get somewhere else?"

"None of your business."

"You don't even know do you!? You just want to go lookin' so you don't have to stay here."

Kaylee interrupted whatever Inara might have said back by saying, "Cap'n? I hear tell they have a beauty of a junk yard a few kilometers away from the landing site….."

Mal turned to her and said, "No. You're stayin' on the ship."

Kaylee said, "But we need…"

Mal just gave her a steady look and she trailed off and just accepted that she wasn't going to get to go. She muttered, "Hwoon dahn."

Mal looked over to Simon and said, "You and River stay put as well. There's probably wanted holos all over for the two of you."

Simon just gave him a nod, having no desire to go out.

Jayne said, "Did we get a picture of Belinda? Is she pretty?"

Zoe laughed and said, "Why, is it better to get turned down by pretty women Jayne?"

As the crew was laughing River muttered, "Daddy will come for us."

Simon looked over at her and said, "What River?"

She smiled at him. "What?"

"What did you just say?"

She looked confused for a second and then said, "I said 'what'."

"No before that."

She shrugged and gave him a blank look. Mal finished up eating and looked to Inara. "If you go, be sure you're back in time for us to take off."

She nodded, "I will."

An hour later Inara took her shuttle to the main part of the city to shop. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne took the hovercraft and went to go meet with Belinda. When they got to the correct house they parked the hovercraft by the door. Jayne looked up and said, "Why would a women who lives in a house like that need to work for the likes of us?"

Zoe shrugged, "Who cares, as long as she can do the job."

Mal looked at Jayne and said, "Wait here, and keep an eye out."

Jayne nodded. Mal and Zoe went to the house and Mal knocked on the door. A rough looking woman in her mid fortes answered the door. She had short spiked blond hair, and was wearing clothes that looked like they would be good for working in the fields. She opened the door wider and said, "You must be Captain Reynolds. Come in please. I'm Belinda."

She held out her hand and Mal shook with her. He liked her right away and thought she would work out well with his crew if she really could fly the ship like she said she could. He said, "Pleasure to meet you. This is my second in command Zoe."

Zoe gave Belinda an honest smile and shook hands with her too. Belinda led them into the kitchen and said, "I was just making some lemonade. Would you two like some while we talk?"

Mal and Zoe both agreed. Belinda poured out three glasses and then handed one to each of them. Mal asked, "You said in your note that you've flown a firefly before."

Mal and Zoe both waited until Belinda had a drink of hers before drinking their own lemonade out of habit. She sipped hers, and then they both drank some of theirs while Belinda said, "Yes, for two years I flew for a man named James Blink. I enjoyed the work. He was a smuggler, and I find it exciting to be part of that, especially if it gets under the skin of the Alliance."

Mal smiled and said, "Sounds like you're my kind of woman."

Then Mal frowned. Something was wrong with the way he was talking, but he couldn't quite figure it out for a second. He looked over at Zoe, and could tell she was zoned out. Mal looked at his lemonade and accidentally dropped it when he felt like maybe the room was spinning. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Belinda, but he seemed to be going in slow motion, and she was beside him before he was able to register the fact his gun was pointed at thin air. Belinda easily took the gun away from him, and helped him sit in a chair before he passed out and fell on the floor. She helped Zoe to lean against the counter so she didn't fall out of her chair as she passed out too. Mal was able to get out, "Why?" before he passed out.

Belinda smiled at him and said, "Nothin' personal sugar. It's just a job for me."

Belinda got another glass of lemonade and took it with her to offer it to the man who was still with the hovercraft.

Kaylee, Simon, and River sat around on the deck of Serenity playing a card game by the bridge. Kaylee heard a noise that indicated there was an incoming message. She walked over and opened a channel. An official looking man said, "I have a classified message for a Dr. Simon Tam."

Kaylee started to panic and said, "I ain't never heard of no one with that name. You got the wrong ship mister."

The man said, "I have no personal interest in Dr. Tam. I just want to pass him a message."

Kaylee said, "Like I said, I don't know no one with that name."

"It's from his father."

Kaylee was about to repeat herself, but Simon was there beside her looking at the screen. He said, "I'm here. What's the message."

Kaylee glared at Simon for being so stupid and slapped his arm. Simon was too concerned with the message to even notice. The man said, "The message is classified. You will need to be alone before I can give it to you Dr. Tam."

Simon looked at Kaylee, who just looked back at him with a glare. He gave a slight nod towards the bridge door to indicate she should leave. She said, "No way I'm leavin'."

Simon leaned down a little and whispered, "Please take River down to kitchen so she can't hear. Our father…..she doesn't know what he's like."

Kaylee could hear the sincerity in Simon's voice, and slowly nodded even though it was against her better judgement. She turned to River and said, "Hey River, I want a snack. Why don't you come to the kitchen with me, and find us somethin' to eat."

River, who hadn't been paying attention until she heard her name. She smiled and took Kaylee's hand as they headed away.

Simon closed the door to the bridge and went back to the screen. He said, "We're alone."

The man nodded and stepped away from the screen. Then Simon's father stepped into view. Simon felt a rush of mixed feelings at seeing him. He felt hate and anger but also hope and longing. He glared and said, "Dad?"

Gabriel Tam said, "Hello son. How have you been this past year and a half?"

"How have I been? I don't even know where to start. How did you find me? What do you want?"

"I'm here in town. I want to meet with you and River. You're mother….. she's not well." 

"What's wrong with mom?"

"Since you and River have been on the run…. She's in a serious depression, and she can't seem to cope with it. Will you please meet with me son? It's been too long. I'll bet River looks all grown up now."

Simon looked down for a minute thinking. Mal had told him to stay aboard, but he wouldn't be back for at least an hour and probably two. Simon wasn't sure why he felt compelled to meet with his father, but he did. He wanted a second chance. A chance for his father to see once and for all that Simon had been right about the Academy, and about what they had done to River. He wanted an apology, and for his father to be proud of the things he had done to help his sister. He slowly nodded and said, "Where?"

Gabriel looked like he was about to cry for joy and said, "There is a small restaurant right by the docks where most of the ships land. It's called 'The Shrimp Boat'. Could you and River meet me there in ten minutes?"

Simon said, "Well I can."

Gabriel shook his head and looked at Simon with some of the usual disappointment and a little anger. He said, "I haven't seen my daughter in over three years. You bring her, or at least let her decide for herself if she wants to come."

Simon clenched his jaw and gave one curt nod before cutting off the connection. He stood there breathing hard for a minute thinking about what he was about to do. He knew Kaylee wouldn't agree, especially after Mal had told them not to leave the ship. He thought back to a month ago when he had snuck off the ship in the middle of the night. That had ended badly, and he certainly didn't want a repeat.

But the need to see his father was too strong. He thought, 'Maybe Mal won't be too mad. We aren't going that far away from the ship, and we're going to be right back. Maybe he'll understand that I need to see him. Or maybe, Mal doesn't need to know at all. River and I could be back pretty quick.'

Then another thought hit him. 'What if Dad wants us to come home? Do we want to go home? This could be the end of out stay here. What about Kaylee. Would she want to come live with me? I could be a doctor again.'

Simon shook his head. 'Don't get your hopes up like that. Dad will most likely want to tell me how disappointed he is, and that will be the end of it.'

Simon opened the door to the bridge and walked to the kitchen. He saw Kaylee and River laughing and sharing an orange. He smiled and said, "Um Kaylee?"

She looked up at him. He said, "Can I talk to River alone for a little while? It might take half an hour or more."

Kaylee looked concerned, but nodded and said, "I'll be in the bridge if y'all need me."

She gripped his shoulder for a second before leaving the room, thinking that he must have some kind of bad news to share with River. Once Kaylee was gone, Simon held out his hand to River. She smiled and stood up to go to him. He started to lead her away from the kitchen and towards the main hanger where they usually stored their stolen goods. They walked quietly together. Then when they got to the hanger Simon turned to River and said, "We're going for a walk."

River cocked her head to the side and said, "To a restaurant?"

"That's right."

"But we just ate."

"We're going to meet someone there."

River smiled and said, "It's a surprise!"

Simon nodded in agreement, and pushed the button to open the hatch. On the bridge Kaylee saw the lights that said the hatch was being open. She used the loudspeaker and said, "Simon, what's going on?"

Simon went to the wall and pushed a button to talk back to her. He said, "River and I just need a little fresh air. We'll just be right outside the ship. Don't worry."

Kaylee shook her head and said back, "That's not a good idea Simon. The Captain won't like it."

Simon said, "Trust me Kaylee. River and I need this. We'll be fine, and we'll be back inside before Mal even knows we stepped out. It's not like the docks are very busy or anything."

Kaylee sighed. She often was in the middle between Mal and Simon, and this was no exception. She thought Simon and River would be fine outside, and she thought they should be able to go out. But Mal had said no, and he had meant it. Kaylee said, "Okay, but no more then ten minutes okay?"

Simon said, "Got it. Thanks."

Simon took River's hand and they stepped outside of the ship together. Simon closed the hatch behind them, and started walking at a fast pace towards some buildings he saw in the distance.

Mal shook his head slightly, and then regretted it. He opened his eyes a crack and looked around. He was sitting on the floor and his hands were tied behind his back. His feet were tied together at the ankles, and there was a line of rope that went from his hands to his feet, so he couldn't move his arms without moving his feet too. He looked to his side and saw that Zoe and Jayne were in the same basic position. Jayne was already awake and was struggling with trying to get his hands untied. Mal said, 'What happened?"

Jayne looked guilty, and said, "That bitch spiked my drink…. Then I woke up here."

Mal nodded in understanding. He said, "Us too. How long you been awake?"

"'Bout five minutes."

"Belinda still here?"

"Haven't seen her."

"Havin' any luck with your ropes?"

"Nope. I think they're wire."

Mal sighed and noticed all his weapons were missing. He said with sarcasm, "Well ain't that nice."

Belinda came around the corner holding a gun on him. She said, "I'm glad you think so, since we'll be spending the next few of hours together." 

Mal glared and said, "What do you want from us?"

"Nothin'. I'm just getting paid to baby-sit. You'll be free to go in four hours."

Now Mal started to get worried. Belinda saw his look and said, "Don't fret none sugar. No one's stealing your ship, or hurting your crew. People are just talking."

Mal said, "Whatever they are paying you to do this, I'll pay you double to come over to our side."

Belinda nodded and said, "Good offer. Sorry, but I'm loyal once my services have been paid for. When this is over, if you want me for a job, at least you'll know I'll be loyal to you too."

Mal said, "You even a pilot?"

"I'm a damn good pilot."

Zoe groaned and they all watched while she woke up.

Simon and River found the restaurant with no trouble. At the front door River stopped and said, "I don't like this surprise Simon."

Simon was even more determined to see his father now that he had taken the risk of leaving the ship. He said, "It's gonna be a good surprise River. I promise."

River shook her head no. Simon gave her a smile and said, "It's Dad. He came to see us."

River looked at the door to the restaurant, and then looked back at Simon and said, "Do you want to see him Simon? After everything he said to you…. Are you sure?"

Simon lost his smile and nodded. "I need to see him River. And he needs to see you. Do you want to see him?"

River shrugged and said, "Visiting relatives is always necessary."

Simon wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but pulled her into the restaurant with him. He looked around and saw his father right away. He was sitting at a table by himself. Gabriel stood and smiled at Simon. Simon kept a hold of River's hand and they slowly walked towards the table. As they got close to the table Gabriel walked a couple of steps towards them and pulled River into a big hug. Simon dropped River's hand, and River let her father hold her. When he felt she wasn't hugging back he took a step back and held her at arm's length. He looked at her and said, "River?"

River smiled at him and said, "I met you in a dream before. You were our father."

Gabriel looked hurt and looked over to Simon. Simon took River's hand and said in his patient 'I'm trying to explain something to you' voice, "No River, this is our father. You remember him from real life, not from a dream."

River looked back over at Gabriel, gave him a sly smile and said, "That's sneaky."

Simon looked around him well aware of the fact they were drawing attention, and pulled River to a table to sit. River and Simon sat on one side of the table, and Gabriel sat across from them after a couple of seconds. Simon said, "We're here, so talk."

Gabriel kept looking at River like he couldn't believe his eyes. He said, "Is she always like this?"

Simon gave an irritated, "No, some days are better then others. Now tell me why we're here."

Gabriel tore his eyes away from his daughter and said to Simon, "I've come to take you home."

Simon didn't know what to say. He just sat there with his mouth half open. River looked at him and giggled, "You look like a fish out of water."

Simon ignored her and said, "Why?"

Gabriel sat forward and put a hand over one of Simon's hands. He said, "What do you mean why, son? Because we're family and you should be at home. You've been on the run long enough. River obviously needs medical attention, and she can get the best treatments possible at home. You can start your career again. Your mother will be so happy to see you, I'm sure it will help her pull out of her depression. We want you home because we miss you both."

Simon wanted to believe it. He said, "What about the Alliance. We are wanted fugitives. What about the Academy?"

Gabriel let go of Simon's hand and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "They won't be a problem. I'll deal with it. Get them to understand. I have friends in high places, and many favors I can call in."

Simon thought that maybe his father was a little egotistical if he thought he could do that, but let it go for the moment. He said with a little bit of hate, "Do you know what they did to her at the Academy Dad? They cut open her head and played with her brain."

Gabriel shook his head no once, and then looked back over at River who was stacking sugar packets into a tower on the table completely ignoring their conversation. He looked back at Simon and said, "Can we not talk about that now?"

Simon gave him a nod and said, "Okay then, let's talk about social embarrassment Dad. You basically told me you were ashamed of my behavior when I was trying to get River out of the Academy. How are you going to feel when we take this River to a dinner party? Because if all you have to offer me at home is a padded room where River can live out her days, I'm not interested."

Gabriel got visibly angry at that statement and said, "Don't you dare talk to me like that Simon. I love River. I want what's best for her, just like you. I would never be ashamed of her."

Simon got the implied message that his father would be and had been ashamed of him. Gabriel said, "We don't have much time here. My ship leaves in half an hour. Please come home where you belong Simon."

Simon sat back for a second, and then looked Gabriel in the eye as he said, "A year ago I would have jumped at the chance to go home. I wanted to go home so many times. But now I…. Well I don't think it would be best for River, and on top of that I don't think I want to. We have found a new home with people we love and who love us. I would like to stay in touch with you though. I'll send you and mom video footage and letters from every moon we stop at. And maybe in the future we will come home. But not right now."

Gabriel stood and said, "You don't get to decide for your sister. She is still seventeen for another month, which means she is legally my responsibility."

Simon stood as well and pulled River up with him. River batted his arm away and took a few steps away from both men. She looked upset and said, "I'm right here you know! I can hear your thoughts, and they're making me crazy. Stop it both of you!"

Simon could tell River was getting worked up, and he put both hands up to try and calm her down. He said, "River, we need to go back to the ship now."

Gabriel looked at River and said, "Sweetheart, I want you to come home with me. Don't you want to see your mom? She wants to see you."

Simon got her attention again by saying, "River."

Once she was looking at him, he gave her his most sincere look and said, "You know I love you, and I'm always watching out for you. I want you to come back to the ship with me, because I think it will be best for both of us."

River gave Simon a tolerant smile and said, "Of course it's best silly, Serenity is home."

Simon felt relief flood through him as he saw River hold out her hand for him. Then Gabriel said, "Eto kuram na smekh."

River fell to the floor hard before Simon could catch her. He got down on the ground next to her and checked her vital signs. But before he could finish his exam of his sleeping sister he felt hands grabbing his arms. He looked around and saw two large men hauling him up to his feet, and making him stand still to face his father. Simon felt sick as he looked at his father. He said, "Why? Why would you do that to her?"

Gabriel had a look of disappointment for Simon. He said, "Are you really so blind Simon? Did you get so lost in your quest to find something wrong with the Academy that you can't see what is really going on with your sister? You made her this way! This is your fault!"

Simon's stomach lurched at that and he just shook his head no. Gabriel waved to two other men, and Simon realized the whole restaurant was full of his men. Gabriel said, "Take her to the ship, and put her in the cell. I don't know how much time will pass before she wakes up."

Simon screamed, "NO! You can't take her! She needs me!"

Gabriel walked over to Simon and slapped his face. Simon was shocked into silence. His father had never raised a hand against him or his sister. Gabriel had tears in his eyes as he said with calm, "You took her from the Academy when they were in the middle of her training. The training was very specialized and required her to stay there until it was complete. If you had left her there she wouldn't be this way. If you had left her there like we told you to, she would be a normal happy seventeen year old girl. By taking her out of there before her training was over, you _caused _this mental lapse of hers. I will never forgive you if she can't recover from this Simon. How dare you try to ruin her life along with your own. She needs to go back so they can try and fix what you've done."

Simon kept shaking his head no as tears ran down his face. He said, "No. You can't believe that Dad!"

Gabriel turned to leave. Simon yelled out; "Please listen to me Dad. If not for my sake, then at least for hers. They cut her open again and again! They were playing with her mind! You can't just take her; she can be dangerous to herself and others! They'll do it to her again! Dad! DAAAADDD!"

Gabriel continued walking away, and didn't look back.

Simon struggled for a few seconds, but there were three large men holding him, and he had no chance. They let him fall to the floor, and stood back holding their weapons towards him. He got himself off the floor and onto a chair. He wiped at his face and started to think about how to get her back. He didn't have time to dwell on the fact that his father had betrayed them, he only had the energy to focus on getting his sister back. He looked at the men watching him and said, "How long are you keeping me here?"

One of them said, "Until we hear otherwise."

Simon nodded and waited while plotting. Ten minutes into his capture, the three men got a call. The leader told the other two to get out. Then he stood next to Simon and said, "Night."

Simon looked up confused, and soon saw nothing as the base of the man's gun slammed into the side of Simon's head.

Kaylee kept looking at the time, and when it had been eleven minutes, she went to the hatch herself and opened the door. She stepped out and looked around. She was slightly confused and then walked around the ship slowly looking for Simon and River. Not finding them she said, "This ain't good."

She ran back to the ship and went to get the radio to call Mal. She pushed the button and said, "Cap'n."

She waited a few seconds for a response. Then she called again, "Cap'n, we've got a situation here. I need you."

She waited but still got no response. She called again, "Mal? Zoe? Jayne? Any of you out there? We have missing crew members. Anyone?"

She waited again and then said, "Gou shi."

She put her head in her hands and then went back to the bridge. She called Inara, but she didn't answer either. She left Inara a message, and then looked towards the hatch. She shook her head and said, "Damn."

She walked off the ship, closed the hatch, and went looking for River and Simon.

Zoe had woken up and quickly realized the situation. After a few minutes of struggling, she gave up. Belinda had left the room for a few minutes, and Mal filled Zoe in, while Jayne tried to maneuver himself towards the weapons. Belinda came back in before he made it. Mal was about to try and talk Belinda into letting them go again, when he heard his radio come to life. He saw it was sitting next to Belinda along with all their weapons. He listened to Kaylee tell him people were missing. Once it was obvious she wasn't calling back, Mal turned to Belinda and said, "I thought you said they were just talkin'. Don't seem like talkin' if my crew is missin' now does it?"

Belinda looked a little less sure of herself and said, "They just haven't come back yet. The guy was real clear. He isn't going to hurt any of them. He just wants to see them."

Zoe said, "Who?"

"Their father."

Jayne smiled and said, "Good. Maybe he'll take them off our hands. This is turning out to be a good day after all."

Zoe and Mal exchanged a look. Zoe said, "His father never came looking before."

Mal nodded and said, "In fact he was avoidin' them before."

"Think they made him a deal?"

"I reckon they did."

Zoe said, "How'd he get to them though?"

Mal said, "Simon's been known to wander off."

Zoe just shook her head knowing Mal was right. Jayne said, "That boy's gonna get us all killed one of these days Mal."

Jayne looked at Belinda and said, "Hopefully not today though."

Belinda had been listening to all of this and said, "No, you have it all wrong. He just wants to talk to them. He's perfectly nice. They will be back."

Mal said, "Oh, they'll be back alright, no matter how long it takes me to find them this time."

The room was quiet for a few minutes and then Zoe said, "What if they don't want to come home?"

Mal looked over at her and said, "Then we'll wish them the best."

Zoe nodded in agreement.

Mal looked to Belinda and said, "Let me tell you a little story about the nice man who hired you, and what he did to his kids."

Kaylee had looked around the docks a little bit, but headed in the general direction of the buildings. The second building she went into was the restaurant. She immediately noticed that the place was empty except for Simon who was sitting in a chair, but slumped over onto a table. She said, "Simon?!"

She ran over to him, and saw a little bit of blood leaking down onto his face from his hairline. She could tell he was breathing, and looked at his head for a wound. She found the bump, but could tell that it wasn't bleeding very much. She shook his shoulder and said, "Simon?"

He groaned, and soon opened his eyes, and put a hand up to his aching head. He said, "What happened?"

He looked around and then looked at Kaylee. She said, "I was hopin' you could tell me."

Simon said, "River!"

He got up and ran in the direction that they had taken her. But when he got to the door, he could see no sign of them. Kaylee was right behind him and said, "What's goin' on Simon?" 

Simon said, "We need to get back to the ship! Hurry!"

He started to run, and she ran with him, both of them saving their breath for running. Once they got to the ship Kaylee punched in a code to open the hatch. Once they were inside and breathing hard Kaylee said, "Explain."

Simon said, "We need Mal. My father was here. He took River, and he's going to take her back to the Academy if we don't stop him."

"How did your daddy know we were gonna be here?"

"I don't know!"

Kaylee glared and said, "Is that what your message was about? You knew he was here and you went to meet him? You lied to me!"

Simon gave her a nod, "You can yell at me later. Right now we need to call the Captain and get River back!"

Kaylee headed to the bridge and said on the way, "I hope he's there. I tried calling when I found out you were gone, but there was no answer."

Simon was feeling more and more desperate. Kaylee got to the radio and called again, "Cap'n are you there?"

After getting no answer, Kaylee said, "If you can hear me, get back to the ship as soon as you can. River has been taken. Her father was here, and he knocked Simon out and took her. He's taking her back to the Academy as we speak."

Still no response and Simon swore, "Ai ya!"

Kaylee said, "I'm sure they'll be back soon."

Simon said, "Do we have any sensors that can tell us if a ship has taken off in the last ten minutes?"

Kaylee nodded and then pushed some buttons. She said, "Yes, about five minutes ago a large ship took off. Left an ion trail a mile wide."

Simon closed his eyes for a second and said, "Can you follow it?"

"Sure, but maybe not by the time Cap'n gets back. We only have about half an hour window before it dissipates."

Simon looked at her and said, "Then let's follow it now."

Kaylee gave him a blank look for a second and then said, "You mean take the ship and follow him? Just you and me?"

Simon gave her a nod.

Kaylee shook her head, "No. Absolutely not! Cap'n would skin us alive if we took his ship."

Simon felt tears in his eyes and said, "I have to find her Kaylee."

Kaylee said, "The captain will go after her. He won't let your father take her back without a fight. You know he'll do everything he can to get her back."

Simon's tears spilled down his face and he fell to both his knees in front of her. He said, "What if he's not in time? I'm begging you Kaylee. Please. I'll give you anything I have; I'll get you anything you want. I have to save her before she gets put back there. I promised her she would never have to go back. You know what they did to her. Please. We have to go after her now before it's too late."

Kaylee looked down at Simon. She had never seen him so broken. Not even when the Reavers were attacking and they all thought they were gonna die. She was torn. She knew Mal would want them to wait, and she was very loyal to him. She also knew that Simon wouldn't want to keep living if he failed his sister by letting her go back. She loved both men in different ways, and didn't want to hurt either of them. She got down on her knees in front of Simon, and grabbed his hands in hers. She couldn't refuse him, and she also wanted River back. She said, "Okay, let's go get her."

Simon gave her a look of gratitude and squeezed her hands. She said, "Now get up, and help me."

They both stood, and Kaylee called on the radio one more time, "Um… Cap'n? Simon and I…. Well… we're gonna……"

Simon leaned down and said it for her. "We're taking the ship to go get River. We'll come back for you as soon as we get her."

Simon turned the radio off, and looked at Kaylee. She looked fairly pale and she muttered, "He ain't gonna be happy."

She pushed some buttons and called for Inara's shuttle. Inara answered this time. Kaylee said, "Inara! We've got a problem."

Inara looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Simon's daddy was here. He took River. We can't get a hold of Mal, so we're taking the ship to try and get River back."

Inara yelled, "What? Have you taken leave of your senses Kaylee?"

Kaylee nodded, "Most likely. Please wait here for Mal so you can tell him what's going on. We'll come back as soon as we can."

Before Inara could say anything else Kaylee cut off the communication. Kaylee started the sequence for getting the ship in the air. She looked to Simon and said, "Start prayin'."

At Belinda's house, Mal had finished telling her everything he knew about Gabriel Tam. When he was done, she said, "You three stay right there. I'm gonna make a few calls."

She left the room and Jayne started towards the weapons again. A few minutes later he got to them and a few minutes after that, he got his knife in his hands. He was working on trying to cut the wires around his wrists when Belinda came back. She said, "Drop it big guy."

Jayne snarled at her, but when she cocked her gun he dropped his knife. She looked over at Mal and said, "I've put in a call. If I don't get the answer I want, I'll be letting you go."

Mal gave her a nod and said, "We'd be much obliged."

While they were waiting Mal's radio went off again. Kaylee was talking and then Simon broke in to tell them they were taking his ship. Zoe and Jayne both looked over at Mal, who looked like his head might explode with pent up rage. He yelled at the radio, "My ship!! You're taking my ship! Guai guai long de dong! Ni zhao si ma?"

He glared at Belinda and said, "What happened to no one was gonna get hurt or taken? What happened to no one was gonna steal my ship!"

She yelled back, "It's your own crew taking the ship!"

He glared and said, "We need to go now. We've played nice up to now, but if you don't see reason real soon, things are gonna get ugly."

She stayed in the room, and made another call. She said to the phone, "Well?"

Then she looked more and more upset. She said, "Son of a Bitch! You get in touch with Johansel and tell him I need a favor."

She hung up and picked up a knife. She walked towards Mal and said, "You were right. He double crossed me, and skipped town without paying me the other half of what he owes."

She bent down and cut his bindings. Then she cut Zoe free as well. Last she cut the ropes off Jayne. She still held them at gunpoint, but addressed Mal when she said, "If I help you get your ship and crew back, can we call this even, or are you gonna come looking for revenge?"

Mal thought it over. "We'll call it even."

She nodded and put her gun away. She said, "Get your weapons, and let's go. I've got a friend here in town with a ship. We'll see if we can get a ride."

Mal got his weapons on and nodded. He picked up his radio and called, "Kaylee!"

He got no response. He called, "Simon or Kaylee, if you're listening, it would be best you answer me right now!"

He was almost surprised when he heard the radio come to life. It said, "This is Inara. Kaylee and Simon have taken Serenity to go find River who was taken about twenty minutes ago by her father. I have my shuttle, and I can come get you if you tell me where."

Mal felt relief that at least they had the shuttle. He called her back with instructions of where to pick them up. Belinda said, "Good. Let me make another call, and then we can take your shuttle to the docks where my friends ship is stationed."

River woke up and felt cold metal under her body. She was quickly flooded with other's thoughts, but they were thoughts of people she didn't know, and it scared her. She sat up quickly and looked around. She was in a small cell, with nothing but a toilet and cot that was attached to the wall. She couldn't see anything except her cell. The walls and floor were solid metal. There was a small vent for air, but it was quite small. The ceiling was metal, except for a panel of lights that were behind what looked like bulletproof plastic. River stood up and said quietly, "Simon?"

She looked at the door, of her cell, and inspected the handle and the lock. Then she inspected a fairly large sliding panel that was at eye level. She opened it, and could see through the bars of her cell. She pressed her face against it, to see as much as she could. All she could see was an empty hallway, with two other cells to the right of her. She knew they were empty.

She left the panel open and looked around some more. She noticed another sliding metal panel on the door that was next to the floor. It looked to be the right size for shoving food to her. She opened it, and then closed it again. Then she noticed up in the corner of the room a tiny little spot. She got closer and knew it was a camera. She tore off a little corner of her dress, put some spit on the cloth, and stuck it to the lens. Once that was done, she sat on her cot and waited.

Less then two minutes later her father was on the other side of the cell door. He looked at her through the bars in her door and said, "River, please take the cloth off, or we'll have to put you to sleep again."

River walked over and plucked off the piece of her dress. She used her hand to wipe the spit off the surface of the lens. She turned to her dad and said, "How long was I out."

"About an hour."

"You don't believe Simon, but he's right. The Academy wasn't what they said it would be. They hurt me again and again. Didn't you get my letters? Didn't you understand? Or maybe you just didn't care."

Gabriel looked at his daughter with sadness. He said, "River, I know you believe that, but it's not true. The Academy is a good place. I've been there, and I've seen the things they are doing there. They didn't hurt you, Simon did. When he took you, they were in the middle of some very sensitive training for you, and because he took you in the middle of it, it left you paranoid and it forced your psychic abilities into the mindset of a schizophrenic. Then being aboard that ship with those people only made it worse. I'm taking you back so they can help you River. I'm taking you back because I love you."

River parted her hair to show him some scaring on her head. She said, "Is this scar really here, or is it a manifestation of my paranoia?"

Gabriel looked at the scar and said, "They told me you fell down the stairs, and needed immediate surgery to relieve pressure from swelling in your brain. Simon has talked you into believing the story of them messing with your mind. Him and that Captain Reynolds want to believe the Alliance is evil. They will do anything they can to make you think the Alliance is evil too. Captain Reynolds is a criminal River. The Alliance wants him for smuggling, and for hiding fugitives. He is not a good man, and anything he has told you is a lie. He has used you and Simon to further his own agenda."

She shook her head not quite understanding how this man could be so blind. She walked up to the bars, and saw him take a step back. She reached her arm through and said, "I missed you Daddy."

He gave her a soft smile and walked up to her. As soon as he was in her reach, she grabbed the back of his head, and slammed his face against the bars as hard as she could. He fell to the floor passed out. She quickly got down and lifted the panel that was by the floor. She pulled him towards her, and searched his pockets. She found a set of keys and pulled them in to the cell. She looked through them quickly and found the right one. She grabbed it in her fingers, and stuck her entire arm through the bars of the cell, even though it was a tight fit, and hurt. She wrenched her arm around into a fairly unnatural position and stuck the key in the lock. She unlocked the cell, and felt her shoulder pop out of its socket as the door opened. She yanked her arm back out of the bars, and could tell there would be bruising. She shoved her shoulder back into place with the help of the wall. Thanks to the Academy, her brain worked differently then most people. She could tell her body was hurt, and she could 'feel' the pain, but she could put that pain in a separate place inside her mind so that the pain didn't affect the control she had over her body's movements.

River ran down the hall, getting information from the minds around her as she went, to see where the escape pods were on the ship. She ran directly to one, only encountering three guards on the way. She quickly took care of them with a few well placed kicks and punches. They barely slowed her down. As she was punching in the code to the escape pod door, her father's voice came over the loud speaker with the words, "Eto kuram na smekh!"

River fell to the floor, as a few wary guards surrounded her.

Kaylee concentrated on following the other ship, and tried not to let herself get all worked up thinking about what Mal was going to do when he found them. Simon was pacing around behind her trying to figure out what to do when they caught up with his father. He kept asking Kaylee questions about the capabilities of the ship. How close could they get to the other ship without being detected? Could she tell how big the other ship was? Could the sensors tell how many people were aboard the other ship? Kaylee answered as well as she could while trying to pilot and follow the ion trail from the other ship.

About an hour into their trip, their sensors picked up the much larger ship. It was at least three times bigger then the little firefly. But Kaylee suspected they wouldn't notice Serenity for a while, as long as they stayed far enough back. Simon nodded and said, "Just follow them for a while, while I come up with a plan."

Kaylee said nervously, "We're gettin' closer and closer to Alliance run space. If you're gonna try to get her back, we don't have much time. Two hours at best."

Simon nodded in understanding, and continued to pace and think.

Once Inara landed the shuttle, she was quickly introduced to Belinda, and given instructions for getting them over to Belinda's friend. Belinda had gotten a call from Johansel and they were in agreement to meet at his ship. They parked Inara's shuttle at the dock, and all got on board Johansel's ship. Johansel was able to follow Serenity's ion trail.

Mal spoke with Johansel and Belinda about his plans for when they caught up with his ship, and then his plans for when they caught up with the ship that had taken River.

River woke up in pain. She sat up and saw she was back in her cell. She wasn't in action mode anymore, so her shoulder hurt a lot, and she started to cry as she held it. She muttered to herself, "Daddy will come for us. Daddy will come for us."

Then she yelled out, "Simon!!! I need you, it hurts!"

She glared up at the cell bars on the door, and saw her father standing there. She said, "It hurts."

Gabriel said, "Well then I would suggest you stop hurting yourself by trying to escape."

She stopped crying and tilted her head to the side as she looked at him. She said, "You hate us."

He got defensive; "Of course I don't hate you. You are my daughter, I love you."

"No. You try to, but you don't."

She looked at him with sympathy; "It's okay Gabriel. Simon and I don't need you anymore. You can go back to your own life. We won't shame you anymore. We have a new family now, and they love us. We'll be just fine."

He glared at her and said, "You think those low life, brown coat, uneducated, thieves are your family now? Maybe the Academy messed with your head more then I thought. You're going back, little girl, and no one is going to stop that from happening."

River snapped. She became calm and said; "I'm hungry. I want oatmeal. Go away."

Gabriel was fed up and walked away. He went to one of the guards and told him to take his daughter some oatmeal. Gabriel thought that maybe River would be more reasonable after she had some food in her stomach. And he knew oatmeal was one of her favorite things to eat.

River sat completely still while she waited for her food. Once she knew the guard was brining it to her, she let some tears fall down her face and made herself look scared. The guard soon came into view, and River let out a gasp at seeing him. He looked in at her and felt bad. He said, "Hey now, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. Look…"

He held up a bowl of oatmeal for her to see. "…..I brought you some food."

River tentatively got up and said, "Y….you're not gonna hurt me?"

The man could see the bruises on her upper arm, and wondered just what the people here had done to her to make her so afraid. He looked at her with sympathy and said, "No. Come on over here, and I'll talk to you while you eat."

She walked slowly towards the door, and he encouraged her with a smile. She sniffed loudly and said, "I'm really hungry, and my arm hurts."

He thought that he hadn't signed up with the Alliance to go around hurting teenage girls, and was going to have words with his superiors about this mistreatment, and file a report.

Once she got close to the cell door he pointed down to the bottom and said, "Now I'm gonna push the bowl under the door. Do you see the little panel down there?"

She nodded once and said, "Okay, thank you."

He squatted down and pushed the tray all the way through the panel once he opened it. River grabbed his wrist with both of her hands, and yanked his arm in as far as she could. While he was floundering on the floor she used her foot to stomp down on the panel's door, effectively cutting off circulation to the man's lower arm which she still had a hold of. He screamed in pain. She said, "I'm sorry about this Dale, because you seem like a nice enough man. But I'm going to cut your arm off if you don't get out your keys and unlock my door."

Dale believed her and yelled, "Okay! Okay!"

He got out his keys with his free hand, and was just able to reach the door's lock. River could sense the other guards coming. The second her door was open, she quickly kicked Dale in the head and took him out of the equation. She picked up her bowl of oatmeal, and scooped some up with her hand. It was burning hot, but she ignored that, and shoved a handful in her right ear. It cut off her hearing effectively, even though it burned. She did the same thing with the other ear, and then took the bowl with her as she went to fight the guards.

There were five guards with guns and tazers in the hall when she came out. While holding the bowl of oatmeal in one hand, she jumped into the middle of them, and in ten seconds had them all on the ground groaning. She ran out the door, and to a supply room. She found a roll of packing tape, and shoved more of the oatmeal in her ears before locking the oatmeal in place with some tape over her ears. Once she was effectively deaf, she went into the hall.

She walked towards the bridge, and dispatched two guards on her way. Once there, she saw her father standing near the wall yelling into the loud speaker. She went up to him, and he looked scared. She used her fingers to punch his throat so he could no longer talk. As he was holding his throat and trying to breathe, River took care of the rest of the crew that was on the bridge. Once those twenty men and six women were down, she grabbed her father and pulled him with her back the way she had come. He struggled against her, and she kicked him hard in the shins, and again in the stomach. She then pulled him along the floor until she got to the cell where she had been kept. She put him in the cell and locked him in.

She looked at him in there, and tried to remember when he was her father. She said a little loudly, "Gabriel."

He looked at her. She said, "Simon and I are disappointed in your parenting skills. We don't want you as a father anymore. You will leave us alone."

She turned and ran back to the bridge without encountering any more of the crew. She worked on the panel by the bridge door, and soon it was locked shut and she was alone on the bridge except for the passed out crew around her feet. She walked to the navigation center and turned the ship around.

Simon after pacing and pacing finally said, "Send them a distress call. Tell them something is broken, and we don't think we'll make it planet side without it. Ask them for help."

Kaylee said, "Don't think that will do much good, seein' as how they know who we are, but I'll try. What are we gonna do if they do come to help?"

Simon looked at her and said, "Shoot everyone we see until we get to River."

Kaylee said, "You sure about that?"

"You said we had two hours, and that was over an hour ago. It's now or never, and I don't know what else to do."

Kaylee looked down and said, "Let's wait another half an hour, and try to come up with a better plan."

Simon was thinking about that when they both heard the sound of their ship being hailed. She turned on the audio, and before she could say anything she heard Mal's voice, "What the hell do you think you're doin' with MY Gorram ship!?"

Both Simon and Kaylee jumped at the tone. Kaylee turned on the video feed too and they saw a pissed off Mal looking back at them. Kaylee said, "Cap'n? How…."

Mal said, "We're comin' up on you in a half cruiser. You should be able to see us on the scanner soon."

Kaylee pushed some buttons and said, "I see you."

Mal said, "Do you have the ship that took River on the scanner too?"

"Yes sir. We've been following undetected for two hours now."

Mal nodded once and said, "Good. Land on the moon that's to your left, and once I'm aboard, we'll come up with a plan, and get her back."

Simon yelled, "No! We don't have the time to land just so you can come aboard. We need a plan now. We're going to send the ship a distress call, and try to get it to come to us. At least that way it won't still be headed towards Alliance run space."

Mal looked at Kaylee and said, "Land. Now. That ain't a request."

Kaylee looked back and forth between Simon and Mal. Mal growled, "I'm thinking I'm gonna be using your late night ramblings against you Kaywinnit Lee, now LAND!!"

Kaylee blushed at that thought, but still couldn't choose between Simon and Mal. Then Simon said with disbelief, "The ship is turning."

Kaylee and Mal both said, "What?"

Simon pointed to the scanner and said, "The ship that has River. It's coming this way."

Kaylee said, "We're being hailed."

Mal said, "Patch it through to us too."

Kaylee did, and opened the channel to the big ship. She saw River smiling at her. Kaylee said, "River! What's going on? Are you alright?"

River smiled at her some more and said, "I can't hear you. There's oatmeal in my ears."

Kaylee wasn't sure what that meant and looked to Simon for clarification. He shrugged obviously as confused as she was. River lifted her hair and showed them her taped up ears. Kaylee said, "Oh. I guess it means there really is oatmeal in her ears."

Simon got out a small pad of paper out of his back pocket, and a pen. He scribbled down something and held it up to the screen. River read it and nodded. "Yes I am."

He turned the page on the pad of paper and wrote something else down. He held it to the screen for her to read again.

She said a little loudly, "I'll meet you there."

River turned off the communication. Kaylee brought up Mal again who said, "What was that about?"

Simon said, "She's in control of the ship. She's gonna land on that moon along with us."

Mal just shook his head for a few seconds and said, "Should'a known she could handle herself."

Then Mal looked at Kaylee and said, "I'll talk to the two of you later. Now Land!"

Kaylee gave him a shaky, "Yes sir." and then cut the communication.

Johansel's ship was the closest to the moon, and they landed first. As they were landing Mal turned to Belinda and Johansel and said, "Once River lands, me and my crew are gonna high tail it out of here. I believe the ship she is in control of has quite a large stalk of supplies. If you were to ransack the place, I'm sure it would more then pay for your trip out here. And if you kept the ship busy for say three hours, it would give us time to get away."

Belinda nodded and said, "It's the least we can do."

"Shiny."

Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and Inara were all standing outside the ship waiting along with Johansel and his crew when Kaylee landed Serenity.

Simon could tell Kaylee was scared. She was shaking. Once they were on the ground he pulled her up into a hug and said, "Hey, it's gonna be fine. I'll take full blame. I'll tell Mal I forced you to take Serenity against your will. He's not gonna be mad at you."

Kaylee looked at Simon like maybe he had lost his mind. She said, "Even if that were true, aren't you worried about what he's gonna do to you?"

Simon let her go and said, "You and I both have a good idea of what he's gonna do to me, and yes I'm worried. But you know what?"

"What?"

Simon gave her a smile, "I'm so happy River is safe, I just don't care right now."

"You don't care?" Kaylee said with disbelief.

"River is safe. The ship is safe. You and I are safe along with the rest of the crew. And even if Mal is going to….."

"Whup your behind till you can't sit no more."

Simon got red and said, "Yeah that…. Even if he does, I know this is home."

Kaylee understood what he was saying, but she didn't exactly feel 'happy', because she knew Mal had been serious earlier with his threat.

She said, "Best not keep him waiting."

They walked to the hatch and opened it. They walked out hand in hand to face Mal. Once they were standing a few feet away, Kaylee opened her mouth to say something, but Mal held up a hand to stop her. He said, "You both okay?"

Kaylee nodded. Mal looked at Simon and said, "You've got blood on your face."

Simon reached up to touch the dried blood. He said, "My father's men knocked me out."

Mal frowned at that. Then he said, "We'll talk about taking the ship later. Right now let's focus on River, and make sure she's okay."

While they were waiting Inara went to Kaylee and gave her a hug and whispered, "I'm glad you're okay." and then did the same with Simon.

Ten minutes later River landed. She opened the cargo door and ran out towards her family. The whole crew was standing fairly close together waiting for her. She ran straight to Mal and hugged him tight. Mal was caught off guard and almost stumbled backwards when she threw herself at him. He looked over at Simon for a second, and could tell Simon was surprised and maybe a little jealous that she hadn't come straight to him instead of Mal.

River had her eyes closed and said quietly, "I knew you would come."

Mal looked down at her, and to everyone's surprise, including his own, he hugged her back tight and said, "Of course I came. I'll always come for you."

He waited until she let go, and then he let go of her. He looked at her face and said, "Are you hurt?"

She didn't have to hear him to know what he was saying. She nodded, and her eyes started to fill with tears. She looked for Simon, and when she saw him, she ran to him for a hug too. She started crying and said, "He's awful Simon, he was taking me back there. He hates us."

Simon closed his eyes to everyone else, hugged her tight and said quietly, "I know. I'm sorry."

She said in a pathetic voice full of hurt, "My arm hurts, and I burnt my ears, and the oatmeal makes me dizzy."

Simon looked over at Mal and said, "I'm taking her to the infirmary to check her over."

Mal gave him a nod. Mal shook hands with Johansel and said, "We're gonna be on our way."

Johansel nodded and said, "It's a big ship. I'm sure it will take hours to strip."

Mal nodded once and then turned to his crew. He said, "You heard the man, let's go before we see all the goods we're passin' up."

Jayne said, "We could stay for a few minutes Mal… see if there's anything really good."

Mal shook his head. Jayne got on board grumbling about bad leadership and called out, "I'll be in my quarters!"

Once everyone was aboard Mal looked at Zoe and said, "Get us back to Fansol so we can pick up Inara's shuttle."

Zoe nodded and headed that way. That left Mal, Kaylee and Inara in the bay area. Inara looked back and forth between Kaylee and Mal a couple of times, and said, "I'll go make us all a late lunch." and practically ran to the kitchen.

Kaylee looked down at the floor and said, "I got no excuse that you'd be interested in hearin'."

Mal said, "Oh but you're wrong. I'm lookin' forward to hearin' how you decided to take off with my ship. It should be good. Let's go to your room."

Kaylee sighed, thinking that sarcasm couldn't be a good sign, and headed towards her room with Mal following closely behind. Kaylee went in first, and Mal followed locking the hatch behind him. Kaylee's room was fairly small just like Mal's because it was crew quarters. He sat on her bed, which was the only piece of furniture in the room, and said, "Let's hear it."

Kaylee stood near the ladder that went to her hatch door and told him the story up until the point when she had called him the first time. Then he told her what had happened to him. When he was done she continued with the rest of her story. Mal sighed and said, "I know you love Simon, and I think it's real good for both of you bein' together, but you can't let it affect your judgement on the job. You and I both know he couldn't have flown the ship without you, and you should have stayed strong and told him no. You should have convinced him I would go after River. It's dangerous to fly this ship with only two crew members. What if somethin' had gone wrong with the engine? How can you fly her and fix her at the same time?"

Kaylee looked at the floor and nodded, "I know. I'm sorry."

"That's not gonna be good enough Kaylee."

She nodded again and whispered, "I know."

"Come here."

Kaylee looked up and said, "Cap'n?"

He looked at her expectantly. She said, "I know I deserve it, and you got the right to do it, but you can't tell Simon. He won't understand."

He gave her a glare, "I ain't gonna lie to him."

She started to cry and said, "I'm in between the two of you every day, and it's harder on me then you think. If he finds out that you whupped me, he's gonna either try to kill you, or leave the ship for good. If he leaves what am I supposed to do? Go with him, or stay here? How can I make that choice? Please don't tell him."

Mal thought about that for a few seconds. He knew what she meant by being in between them all the time, and felt bad that it apparently bothered her more then he had realized. He said, "All right. I won't tell him, but if he asks me about it I ain't gonna lie. I'll try to find you first before I answer him though, so we can talk to him together if it comes up."

She nodded and said, "Thank you."

He looked at her expectantly again. She went to him slowly dragging her feet. She had been spanked plenty in her life by her father, and a couple of times by her mom and oldest brother, but never by Mal. And because she herself had given him the idea in the first place, she found it more embarrassing to be caught in a situation where she felt she deserved it. She leaned herself over his lap with a bright red face.

Mal put a hand around her waist and brought his other hand down hard and fast. He knew she had been in this position more then once, and after his experience with both River and Simon last month, he knew how hard to hit to make an impression. Kaylee made a strangled little whimper in the back of her throat with the first smack, and then kept herself quiet with effort.

By the time Mal got to ten swats, Kaylee couldn't hold her breath anymore, and as she let it out, she made involuntary noises with each swat. Mal kept spanking, and soon Kaylee was squirming around on his lap trying to get her behind away from his hand. He pulled her up tight against his stomach, to limit her squirms. She started to cry quietly and she had to grab her left wrist with her right hand to keep herself from trying to reach back and cover her butt.

Mal was kind of surprised at Kaylee's reaction. He had been expecting something more vocal. She never seemed to have a problem giving him her opinions in the past, and he was sure she was in pain by now. He wasn't sure how many swats he had given her, but he knew it was between thirty and forty. He stopped for a second and said, "You plan to take my ship again without askin'?"

She tried to say 'No sir.' But she couldn't quite get it out in between her tears, and ended up shaking her head no. Mal realized she was crying pretty hard when he heard the hitched breath that she took in. He nodded to himself thinking that was enough, and let her go. She didn't get up, so he put both his hands on her waist and lifted her off his lap, and sat her down on the bed next to him. He pulled her into a hug wrapping both his arms around her shoulders. She cried into his shirt for a few minutes glad to have it over and feeling better now that she had paid for having taken the ship.

When her crying had slowed down Mal said, "Listen to me mei mei."

Kaylee wiped her eyes and looked up at Mal with a repentant expression. He said, "I love you, and I won't make you choose between us. If it comes to that, you choose Simon."

She gasped at that, and Mal continued, "Little sisters grow up, and move out of the house. If you love him, and want to be with him, but he can't stand to be with me anymore, then you go with him. I'll still love you, and I'll understand why you left. Dong ma?"

Kaylee's face scrunched up again with tears and said, "I don't wanna leave."

Mal kissed her forehead and said, "And I don't want you to leave. I hope it never comes to that. But I want you to know that if you have trouble decidin', you pick Simon. Believe me when I tell you Zoe would choose Wash over me every time."

Kaylee shook her head with disbelief. Mal nodded yes and said, "You ask her about it sometime if you don't believe me."

Mal continued, "But if the good Doctor has decided to do somethin' stupid like he did today, then kick his ass for me, because I know you could."

Kaylee laughed a little at that one. Mal said, "Get cleaned up, and go help Inara with lunch."

Kaylee wiped at her face one more time and said, "He had to go after her Cap'n. Whuppen him ain't gonna change that next time."

Mall stood up and said, "And did he have to lie to you and sneak off with River to see his pa without telling anyone where he was goin'?"

Kaylee looked down and shook her head no. Mal headed to the ladder and left Kaylee to her thoughts.

Simon took River to the infirmary and gave her a thorough exam. He found multiple abrasions on her fists and upper arms. He found a large purple bruise on her upper right arm, and a scan showed torn muscle in the shoulder. He found burns on the fingers of her left hand, and when he took the tape off her ears and cleaned the bigger chunks of oatmeal out, he found second degree burns in her ear canal too. He tried to give her a local anesthetic before cleaning out her ears, but she grabbed his hand and said, "No needles."

He said, "But it's going to hurt when I clean out the wounds in your ears. This will make it hurt less."

River stated more strongly, "No needles Simon."

He sighed and said, "Okay."

She let his hand go, and he put the needle away. He got out some cotton swabs, dabbed them in some purified water and started to work on getting the oatmeal residue out of her ears a little at a time.

When he was done with the first ear, and had just started on the second, River said, "Gabriel won't come for us again."

Simon stilled in his movements, and then said, "Good."

"He hurt me."

Simon felt rage pumping through him but tried to keep his voice level when he said, "What did he do to you?"

"He didn't believe me, and he made me sleep twice. He tried a third time."

Simon felt the anger go away slightly and said, "But you cleverly put burning hot oatmeal in your ears so he couldn't."

River gave him a smile and said, "I knew you'd understand."

Simon said, "You could have blown on it first."

River laughed and said, "No time silly."

They were quiet for a while Simon finished. Once both ears were clean, he put some cooling antiseptic gel in her ears to help the burns heal and hurt less.

Simon said, "Okay River. All done."

River sat up and said, "I told you Daddy would come for us."

Simon put a hand on her face and smiled at her. "Yes, but you didn't tell me it was going to be scary."

River put both her hands on his face and said, "Not Gabriel. He doesn't get to be our father anymore."

Simon looked confused for a second, and then they heard someone clear their throat in the doorway of the infirmary. Simon looked over and saw Mal standing there. Mal said how's she doin' Doc?"

Simon stepped back from his sister and went through the list of her injuries, and then said, "A little bed rest today, and she should be just fine. She'll be completely healed before the week is out."

River pouted, "Bed rest is boring. I want to help with lunch."

Mal said, "You listen to your brother now, and lay down for a spell."

Simon said, "Why don't you lay on the couch in the lounge so you can see what's going on around you, and I'll bring you a book to look at. Maybe Kaylee can keep you company for a while."

River nodded in acceptance and let Simon help her to the lounge. He saw there was a book on the table and said, "How about this one?"

River said, "Okay."

She took the book and lay down on the couch. Simon pushed the hair back out of her face and then turned to face Mal.

Mal said, "Back to the infirmary."

Simon headed that way. When they got there Mal pointed to the exam table and said, "Sit."

Simon looked confused but sat down. Mal pulled out some gauze pads and got them wet with some purified water. He went up to Simon and put his hands on Simon's head. He tilted Simon's head to the side, and started dabbing at the dried blood on his face and in his hair. Simon realized what Mal was doing and said, "It's not a big deal. I can clean it later."

Mal said, "Hush." and continued cleaning.

Mal had seen enough wounds to know this one didn't need stitches, and should heal up just fine. Once the blood was cleaned up he said, "You take anything for that yet?"

Simon just shook his head no. Mal said, "Don't your head hurt?"

Simon shrugged and said, "Maybe a little."

Mal searched the drawers and got out some pills. He put two in Simon's hand and gave him a glass of water. Simon said, "I think I can diagnose and medicate myself better than you can Captain. I don't need any painkillers."

Mal said, "You're gonna take them, and then you're gonna take the same advice you gave to your sister and lay down for a few hours. Then later tonight, you and I will have a talk about what you did today."

Simon tried to sound sure of himself. "I had to go after her Mal."

Mal said, "Take your pills and go lay down before I bend you over this table and show you how much I enjoy repeatin' myself."

Simon didn't like that idea at all. He put the pills in his mouth and swallowed them down with the water. Mal took the glass away and said, "I'll bring you a tray when lunch is ready."

Simon gave him a nod and walked to his room.

Later that night after they had gotten Inara's shuttle, and headed to a new moon to look for work or a pilot, Mal went to Simon's quarters and knocked on the hatch. He knew River was still in the lounge playing cards with Kaylee, so when he didn't get a response he opened the door and went in. He locked the hatch behind him and went into Simon's room. Simon was asleep on his bed, with his mostly empty lunch tray on the floor beside the bed.

Mal said quietly, "Simon?":

Simon wasn't in a deep sleep and woke up with a start. He looked around and saw Mal standing in his doorway. Mal said, "Wake up and come talk to me."

Mal went into the living area and sat on the couch waiting for Simon to come out. Five minutes later a nervous looking Simon came out of his room fully dressed except for shoes. Mal said, "How's your head?"

Simon put a hand up to his wound and said, "Much better thanks. I guess the pills were a good idea."

"Good. Come sit down."

Simon stood half way across the room, and made no move to get any closer. "I'm fine."

"I wasn't askin'."

Simon sighed and walked over to the couch. He sat as far away from Mal as possible. Mal said, "Tell me 'bout it."

"We had to take the ship Captain. We didn't know what had happened to you, or how long it would be until you got back. What if it had taken you hours, and we lost the ion trail of the ship? We had to leave when we did."

Mal gave him a nod and said, "I understand your panic once River was gone. That's not what I want you to explain."

Simon looked confused. "Then what?"

"What did I tell you before I left this morning?"

Simon thought about it and then as understanding dawned on him he looked somewhat uncomfortable. He mumbled, "To stay on the ship."

"Did you?"

"Not exactly."

"So explain."

Simon keept his eyes on the floor and said, "My father called us here on the ship. He said he wanted to see us. He said he missed us, and that our mother was ill."

Mal nodded and said, "Sounds like a compelling reason to see your pa. What happened next?"

Simon felt a little more confident with Mal's agreement and said, "I took River to the restaurant where my father wanted to meet us, and he….."

Mal interrupted, "No."

Simon looked over at him. Mal said, "What happened next was that you lied to Kaylee about just goin' outside for a spell, and then ran off without tellin' anyone where you were goin'."

"Well….I…"

"While I think lyin' to Kaylee was yu ben de, that's between you and her. But leaving the ship, taking your sister out in public without some kind of backup, and without tellin' any of the crew where you were headed, is between you and me."

Simon blushed and said, "I needed to see him."

"That's fine, but you had other options available to you."

Simon shook his head no. "If I had told Kaylee, she would have called you right away, and then you would have said I couldn't go, and I'd end up disobeying a direct order which doesn't seem to make you happy."

"You already did disobey a direct order when you left the ship!"

Simon crossed his arms leaned back in the couch and kept his mouth shut, not being able to negate Mal's statement. Mal said, "Why do you assume I would tell ya that you couldn't see your pa?"

Simon looked less defiant, at that statement and said, "You would have let me?"

"'Course I would have. I just would'a made you wait 'till we got back so we could be back up. You could'a seen him, and we would'a been outside so he couldn't have taken River."

Simon looked down for a second as he thought about that, and how much better that would have been. Mal said, "But even if you didn't do that, you should'a at least left Kaylee a note or somethin'! She was probably scared to death the Alliance had got to you."

Simon mumbled, "I guess I can see where that would have been a better plan."

Mal said, "I'm glad you see it my way. You remember what happened a month ago when you left the ship without tellin' no one where you were goin'?

Simon's breathing and heart rate went up. He said with desperation, "It's not the same. We were just going to be gone for a few minutes, and then we were gong to be right back. It's just a misunderstanding."

Mal raised his eyebrows at that. "A misunderstanding? Was I unclear when I told you not to leave the ship this mornin'?"

"No…. but….. I…"

Mal said, "But you don't want me to give you a lickin' even though you know you're in the wrong. Good, then maybe you'll remember this and you won't run off next time. Stand up and drop your pants."

Simon sat there wide-eyed and just shook his head no slightly. Mal said, "It's happenin' and the more you fight me, the worse it's gonna be."

Simon pushed himself up to standing, and managed to get the button and zipper of his slacks undone. Mal scooted himself to the edge of the couch, and snagged Simon's wrist before he had a chance to panic too much. Mal yanked Simon down over his lap, and Simon caught his upper body with his hands on the couch cushions. His legs hung down off the side of Mal's lap.

Mal pushed Simon forward a little over his lap, so that Simon's butt was directly on top of Mal's right leg. Mal lowered his left leg, so that Simon's butt was higher then the rest of his body. Simon's slacks had already fallen to the floor, and now Mal got a hand in the waistband of Simon's boxers and pulled those down as well.

Simon had been expecting this since he had first gotten Kaylee to agree to take the ship, but now that it was happening, the embarrassment of the situation and position made him want to disappear into the floor. The first smack was very painful and his whole body got tense. The second was no better then the first, and as the swats kept coming with unpleasant regularity and force, Simon found it more and more difficult to stay still or be quiet.

By the time Mal had got to twelve swats Simon's legs were kicking slightly, and he was making noises with each swat. When Mal got to twenty Simon could tell that tears were eminent. Simon called out, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't….Ow!….have left…. Ah!….the ship!"

Mal nodded in agreement and kept spanking. He said, "You're right, you shouldn't have."

Simon was desperate to have it stop before he cried. He said, "I won't…. Aaahh!…..do it again! Mmmff!…..Please stop!"

Mal didn't stop and said, "I'm glad to hear you won't be runnin' off again, but that don't change the fact that you did it today."

Simon felt his throat constricting and his eyes burning, as he fought the tears that were starting whether he wanted them to or not. He made an effort to get up off Mal's lap, but Mal put a hand in the middle of Simon's back and shoved him back down. Mal kept his hand there and spanked Simon with even more force. Simon yelled out and couldn't stop himself from trying to cover his butt with his hand. Mal moved his left hand from the middle of Simon's back and grabbed Simon's hand and moved it out of the way.

Simon got out, "Pleeeease!"

Mal shook his head and gave Simon fifteen more hard swats while Simon cried and jerked around over his lap. Mal stopped, but held Simon in place. Mal waited a few seconds for Simon to calm down enough to listen. Mal said, "That was for leavin' the ship after I told you not to, and for not telling anyone where you were going. This next part is for takin' your sister with you and putting her in danger too."

Simon yelled out, "Nooooo!" as he felt the spanking start up again. Mal gave him ten more and Simon's crying got louder. Mal stopped again and waited for a few seconds. He didn't really want to keep going, but he thought this last part was important. He said, "You listenin' to me Simon?"

Simon nodded rapidly. Mal said, "This last part is for talkin' Kaylee into takin' my ship. It was a bad plan that wasn't gonna work, and could'a got you both killed."

Simon was crying loudly again just from Mal's words. Mal gave him eight more swats as hard as he could, and all concentrated on Simon's sit spot. When Mal was done he let go of Simon's hand and rubbed his back for a few seconds. As soon as Simon realized it was over, he pushed himself to standing. He quickly pulled the boxers back up, but left the pants off as they had fallen all the way to the floor a while ago when he was kicking.

Mal stood up too and pulled Simon into a hug. Simon didn't resist. In fact he hugged Mal back, and felt comforted even though his bottom was throbbing. When Simon's crying was under control Mal said, "Your decision making wasn't at its best today Doc. I hope for both our sakes that it improves."

Simon nodded and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

Mal nodded and said, "I know, and I forgive you."

A few minutes later Simon let go of Mal, so Mal let go of Simon as well. Simon wiped at his face with his sleeves, and sniffed a few times. Mal said, "Go get cleaned up, I want to talk to you 'bout somethin' else before we're done here."

Simon didn't feel like dong much besides crawling in bed on his stomach to pout and feel sorry for himself. He got his pants off the floor, and walked into the bathroom. He put his pants on, blew his nose a few times, and splashed some cold water on his face. He had a drink of water, and then went out to hear what Mal had to say.

Mal was sitting on the couch again but Simon chose to stand over to one side instead of sitting with him. Simon said, "What else did you want to talk about?"

"Kaylee, and maybe River too."

"Okay."

Mal sighed not quite knowing where to start. He finally said, "Kaylee told me she feels like she's in the middle of our arguing all the time, and the more I think on it, the more I understand. I don't like thinkin' that we're hurting her when we disagree. I don't want her thinkin' she has to pick sides."

Simon nodded and said, "I don't like the idea of us hurting her either. But if you think I'm just going to keep quiet when I disagree with you, well, you're wrong."

Mal shook his head. "No, I just want us both to be aware of it, and try our best to keep her out of our squabbles."

"I agree."

Mal wasn't sure he should bring this next part up, but since they were in the middle of a big emotional confrontation anyway, he thought this might be his best opening. He wasn't even sure why he thought he should bring it up but he said, "River came to me first after she got off the ship."

Simon looked away to hide the hurt in his eyes and said, "Yes…She… It appears she is thinking of you as her current father figure. I'm sorry if it bothers you, I'm sure she'll grow out of it with time. This run in with our father has left her…..vulnerable. I'll speak to her about it if it makes you uncomfortable."

Mal shook his head. "No, I don't mind at all. I think it's kind'a nice."

Simon looked over not sure if Mal was telling the truth or not. Mal looked Simon in the eyes and said, "But if it makes _you _uncomfortable, then I can discourage it. I know that you've kind of been filling that role for her for a while now……"

Simon looked down unsure. He said, "Not really…. I mean I don't think River ever saw me like that. Maybe I saw me like that….I don't know. I…. I won't be upset if you ……you know."

Mal nodded once considering the matter done, and stood up. He said, "Good. Chow's in an hour, I'll expect you there."

Simon said, "Okay."

Mal left, and Simon lay down on his couch thinking about all the things Mal had said and done, and wondered what the future would bring.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: This story takes place one month after my story 'Daddy Will Come For Us', and three months after the movie 'Serenity'. This was written for 'suzy_queue' because of a 'guess the movie' challenge on my LJ page. Hope you like it, it turned into more then a drabble.

Dreamwalking

Simon put the cake down in front of River and said, "Don't forget to make a wish."

River smiled at him and closed her eyes for a few seconds. She opened them and blew all the candles out with one blow. She heard a few congratulations from the crew, and she heard Kaylee clap, but her mind wasn't in the now. She stared at the smoking candles without really seeing them as her mind looked at snips of the future and past. Her brother's hand on her shoulder broke the trance, and she looked up at him.

"Happy Birthday River. Now that you're eighteen, you're officially an adult." He gave her a smile, but she could see the worry behind it.

"You'll always be older." She reassured him.

Simon laughed and said, "Thanks for reminding me."

Kaylee started cutting up pieces of cake to hand out, and Inara handed River a gift. River opened the gift to find a new dress. She took it out and held it up against her. "It's beautiful. Thank you Inara."

"You're welcome."

Jayne handed River a crudely wrapped gift and muttered, "Happy Birthday."

Smiling, she opened it and saw a couple of bars of soap shaped like seashells. Kaylee was looking over River's shoulder as she handed a piece of cake to Jayne and said with surprise, "Wow Jayne, that's a mighty nice gift."

Frowning Jayne said defensively, "It ain't like I never gave a gift to a girl before." He snatched his piece of cake, and shoved a bite in his mouth.

River walked over, stood on her tiptoes, and pulled Jayne down to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Jayne."

Slightly embarrassed, Jayne shooed her away with, "Go open someone else's gift why don't ya."

Belinda, who had accepted Mal's offer to pilot the ship about two weeks after kidnapping half the crew, handed River a small box. River opened it and saw a small beaded bracelet inside. She put it on her wrist and said, "Thank you, it's very nice."

"Looks good on you." Belinda commented.

Mal handed River a box, which she opened with a smile. She took a small dagger out of the box, and took it out of it's sheath. The blade caught the light and she said in a far away voice, "Shiny."

Simon choked on his cake for a second before raising his voice, "A dagger? You gave my sister a dagger for her birthday? Are you crazy?"

Mal said defensively, "It's a solid weapon. Standard Army issue. Nothin' fancy, but it'll stop an enemy if you know how to use it."

Setting his cake down Simon crossed his arms, "That's not the problem! I don't want to encourage her to be fighting!"

Scoffing Mal said, "She can knock Jayne out without a weapon at all, I don't think giving her a dagger is going to make her want to fight more."

"Hey, that ain't necessarily true!" Jayne said offended.

Mal talked over him; "This will just be to help her defend herself if something happens."

River who was still staring at the dagger said, "Forty two."

Turning his attention away from Mal for a second, Simon looked at River. He didn't like the way she was staring at the dagger and said, "Forty two what River?"

"People stabbed with this knife."

Glaring at Mal, Simon said, "Nice." He gently put his hand over River's hand that held the dagger and tried to take it away as he said, "I think we should put this away for later."

Pulled out of the past and into the now again by her brother's touch, River jerked her hand away from his with the dagger still in it. "No. It's mine."

Sighing Simon said, "I don't think you should be…."

She put the dagger back in its sheath, looked into Simon's eyes with a serious expression and cut him off, "It's mine. I'm keeping it."

Simon glared at Mal and said, "Great. It's gonna be on your head when something happens."

Getting pissed Mal said; "You say that like she's three! She's better in combat then the best trained soldier. You can't keep her from growing up."

The crew, having heard Mal and Simon fight over what was best for River many times over the past month, mostly tuned it out and went about their own business. River looked back and forth between the two of them a couple of times while thoughts of the immediate future flooded her head.

River suddenly stood up and gave Mal a hug as she said, "Thank you for the gift Captain. It's very nice."

Giving Simon a smug look, Mal hugged River back and said, "You best only be using it when you need it for self defense."

"I understand."

Trying to smooth things over, Kaylee handed Simon his cake again while rubbing a hand up and down his arm. Once he took it, she walked over to River and handed her a gift. "This here's from me and Zoe."

River opened it and saw an ornately decorated and stained wooden box. She opened it and saw a variety of colors of eye shadow, blush, and lip gloss, with a mirror built into the lid. She smiled and offered her thanks to both women while everyone finished up their cake.

That night Mal and Belinda were talking about their next mission in the mess hall while the rest of the crew slept. Belinda was saying, "Should take about two days to go from…."

She trailed off as she saw River walk into the mess hall and head straight to the counter. Mal said to her, "You're up late tonight."

River didn't comment and picked a pear up off the counter. She pulled out her new dagger, and started to cut the pear into slices. Slightly concerned, Mal stood and said, "Somethin' weighin' on your mind little one?"

Without a word River turned abruptly and threw the dagger straight passed Mal's head. The dagger imbedded itself into the metal wall a few feet away. Belinda stood and drew her gun. She leveled it at River and waited to see what was going to happen. Mal stepped back and held out a hand to Belinda in a gesture for her to stand down. He focused on River and said, "River? Tell me what's wrong."

River snarled at the wall with the dagger in it and said in an accent that wasn't quite her own, "That'll teach ya not to sneak up on me."

She stalked over to the wall, yanked the dagger out of it, and carefully wiped both sides of the already clean dagger on the sleeve of her pajamas. Belinda, still holding the gun on River, asked, "Is she sleepwalking?"

"I don't rightly know." Mal walked a little closer to River and said, "River. River can you hear me? Do you know who I am?"

River closed her eyes, and started to fall to the ground. Mal caught her before she could fall all the way, and eased her to the floor. He put a hand on the side of her face and said with a touch of command in his voice, "River it's time to wake up."

When her eyes fluttered open a second later, River looked up at Mal and said with confusion, "Captain? Why am I in the kitchen?"

He helped her sit up and said, "You walked in here yourself. Don't you remember?"

She gave him a wide-eyed look. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"No." He reassured her as he helped her stand up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Belinda took a deep breath and put her gun away now that it seemed to be over. "I'll be up on the bridge if anyone needs me."

Mal nodded absently and started River walking towards the guest quarters that she shared with Simon. "Let's go get you back in bed."

Looking close to tears River said, "Do you think something triggered me again?"

Giving her a squeeze Mal shook his head. "I doubt it. I think you were sleepwalking."

When they got to the hatch of the guest quarters, River said with a pout, "You don't need to tell him. He'll just worry."

"He needs to know. He's not just your brother, he's the only Doc we've got, and it'll help me not to worry overly much if he knows too."

River went in first, and went to sit on the couch. Mal went and knocked on the door to Simon's room. He heard Simon's voice, "Be right there."

Then he heard Kaylee's voice, "What's wrong?"

Simon said, "She probably had another nightmare. Go back to sleep."

A sleepy looking Simon opened the door in his boxers and tee shirt. "What's wr…..Mal?"

Mal said, "Sorry to wake you Simon, but something happened." 

A few minutes later Simon and Kaylee were both on the couch with River between them listening to Mal's account of what happened. Simon turned to River and said, "And you don't remember any of this?"

With a shaky voice River said, "I don't want to do more tests Simon. You said I was better."

Simon pulled her into a hug and said, "It's okay River. We don't need to do anymore tests. I'm sure you were sleepwalking. Maybe you were too young to remember, but you did a lot of sleepwalking right after you turned four." He smiled softly at the memory and said, "You called it dreamwalking. You said your dream had come to life and you were playing inside it. You did it for about two months, and then it tapered off. But you did it again one time a couple days before you were sent to the Academy. So it's not unheard of for you to sleepwalk, and a mildly stressful event like turning eighteen could be a trigger for it."

After a tight hug back she let him go and said, "I'm tired. I want to go back to sleep."

Figuring that Simon and Mal needed a minute alone to talk, Kaylee stood and held out her hand to River. "Come on, I'll tuck you back in."

River took her hand and they went to River's room together. Simon stood and walked closer to Mal. Mal said, "You think she's okay Doc?"

"I think if this is a one time incident that she's okay. If there's another, then we'll have to rethink that."

Mal nodded. "Okay then. Night."

The next night the cargo hold was full with crates of oranges. The crew was being paid to deliver them to a moon, which was about two days away by ship. Zoe was keeping an eye on the bridge that night while everyone else slept. She walked down to the cargo bay to check the oranges three hours after the last of the crew had headed to their quarters. Finding nothing amiss, Zoe turned to go back to her room only to find River standing directly behind her in her personal space. Zoe's hand automatically went for her gun, but once she registered the fact that it was River, she took her hand away and smiled. "You startled me."

Her smile faded as she realized River wasn't looking at her, but through her to some invisible point further ahead. Zoe turned to look behind her, but only saw oranges. Turning back around she said, "River?"

River lunged at an unseen foe to the side, and started kicking and punching the air while slowly advancing on one of the stacks of orange crates.

Mal had told Zoe about River's sleepwalking, so Zoe said in a loud voice, "Wake up! Wake up right now River!"

River continued to fight the air, and soon one of her kicks knocked a crate to the floor. The crate broke on contact, and oranges spread across the floor in different directions. River got out her dagger and started stabbing the oranges as they rolled past her.

While River was busy fighting no one; Zoe walked across the room and pushed a button on the wall. She called Mal first and said, "Sir?"

She heard a tired, "What?"

"We have a problem in the cargo hold."

"Be right there."

Next she called Simon and said, "Simon?"

It took a few seconds, but soon there was a muffled, "What's wrong?"

"Medical issue in the cargo hold."

By the time Zoe was done calling people, River had stabbed each and every orange that had escaped from the crate. When the last one was stabbed she turned suddenly to look straight at Zoe. River was crouched in a fighting stance while holding the dagger, and she had a wild look in her eye. Zoe slowly reached for her weapon and said, "River, it's me Zoe. You need to wake up now before one of us gets hurt."

River blinked a couple of times and slowly rose to a fully standing position. She looked around her at the floor and then down at her orange juice soaked pajamas. "What happened?"

Taking her hand off her weapon Zoe breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You were sleepwalking again. The Captain and Simon will be here in just a few seconds."

With a look of dismay, River turned the broken crate over, and started gathering the stabbed oranges and putting them back in the intact part of the crate. Mal was there first and when he saw the mess River had made he said, "Ai ya!"

River continued to pick up and said, "I'm sorry." 

Mal turned to Zoe for an explanation. "Sleepwalking again."

Before he could comment, Simon and Kaylee showed up as well. Simon saw the mess and then asked River, "Are you okay?"

River nodded with tears in her eyes. Simon saw the dagger in her hands and said, "Where did you get that?"

River looked down at her hands. Mal answered, "What do you mean where did she get it? It's the one I gave her."

Shaking his head Simon said, "No, after last night she agreed to let me keep her dagger in my bedroom for the night, just in case she ended up sleepwalking again."

Looking down at the dagger, River said, "It's mine. I know it's mine."

Kaylee said, "You must'a come in while we were sleepin' and took it."

"I'm sticky. I need a shower." River said as she put the last orange in the broken crate.

Simon turned to Mal and said, "I'll reimburse you for this."

Shaking his head Mal said, "I ain't worried about the money so much as I'm worried about a repeat performance."

Nodding in understanding Simon said, "Me too. I'll talk to you about it tomorrow."

River glared at her brother and said, "Don't talk like I'm not in the room, and don't offer to pay for it when I break things!"

A bit surprised Simon shook his head and said in a placating voice, "I'm just trying to help you River."

"I don't need your help." She hissed at him with venom. She turned to Mal and said, "I'll pay for the damages. Take it out of my cut, and let me know what else I owe you. And I'll talk to you tomorrow about how we're going to prevent a repeat performance."

Mal looked at Simon who looked hurt, and then back to River who looked angry. "I'll talk to both of you tomorrow. It's late, go back to bed. That's an order."

Kaylee put her hand in Simon's hand, knowing he was upset, and they headed for the guest quarters following River.

Once they were out of ear shot Mal turned to Zoe for her opinion. She answered the unspoken question; "Trouble's brewing between those two."

Nodding in agreement Mal said, "Best guard the fruit tonight."

"Yes sir."

The next morning after breakfast Mal told Simon and River to come with him to the infirmary. Once they were there Mal asked Simon, "You got any tests you can run to see what might be makin' River sleepwalk?"

River immediately said, "No tests!"

Mal said somewhat gently, "I know you ain't fond of tests, but we need to know what's going on in that head of yours."

Simon had been thinking it over and said, "I could monitor her brain waves tonight while……"

Interrupting, River shook her head and said with more force, "No tests! I'm better now!"

With a small glare Mal said forcefully, "If the Doc and I agree that you need a test, then you're gonna take it, like it or not."

River glared back and said, "I won't!"

"River!" Simon said with mild disapproval.

Mal just looked at River in shock for a few seconds. She'd never given him a direct no, and it took him a few seconds to react. She told Simon no often enough, but given time Simon could usually talk her into whatever it was if it was he wanted her to do. Mal wasn't about to take the time to talk his crew into following orders. Pointing a finger at her, Mal said, "You'd best be rememberin' that you're a member of my crew, and when I give an order I expect it to be obeyed. You're taking whatever tests the Doc thinks you need."

"I don't need any tests!"

Simon knew he could talk her into it with some time and patients. He was about to ask Mal to give him a few minutes alone with his sister but never got the chance. Time seemed to go in slow motion as he saw Mal grab his sister's upper arm, turn her to the side, and swat her on the butt four times before letting her go again. It was over before Simon had a chance to react, but the second it was over, Simon stepped in between the two and directed a murderous look at Mal. He hissed, "How dare you!"

With a seriously annoyed expression Mal said, "You wanna be next?" Before Simon could answer that Mal looked back at River who had both her hands on her butt and a pout on her face. He said, "Are you gonna take the tests?"

Nodding River quietly said, "Yes."

Mal's threat barely registered in Simon's head. All he could think about was protecting his sister. "If you ever lay a hand on my sister again…"

Leaning down into Simon's personal space Mal cut him off. "You don't wanna finish that statement." Mal could tell that Simon was too angry to be intimidated, so he looked over at River and said, "You stay."

He pulled a still angry looking Simon out of the infirmary and shut the door behind them. Mal leaned down close to Simon's ear and said quietly, "You need to think on this a minute. Your sister killed a whole slue of Reavers all by her lonesome because she could anticipate their moves. You really think she couldn't anticipate mine?"

Simon backed up a step away from Mal and shook his head no, not wanting to believe that. He hissed a whisper back, "That's insanity."

"Maybe so, but you can't deny that it's true. She was scared and she needed…." Mal paused and looked in the window at River who was now sitting on the exam table and staring off into the distance. "She needed someone to take control."

Looking back at Simon, Mal said, "We talked about this."

Simon was calming down, and his brain was working overtime trying to put the pieces together. He looked in at his sister who seemed much calmer for the moment, and then back at Mal. "We didn't discuss you striking her."

"No, but we did talk over her seein' me as a…." Mal found himself unable to say 'father figure'. He said, "We talked about how she sees me, and we both agreed that we were fine with it."

Simon looked over at River again, and a part of him could see Mal's point. A part of him could even see that it had worked. But another part of him was angry with both of them. Angry with Mal because his version of a father figure was not the version that Simon wanted for his sister. And angry at River because she hadn't stopped Mal, which did indicate that Mal's version was the version she wanted for herself. And though he wouldn't admit it, a part of him was jealous that Mal had taken the role that Simon himself had tried, but failed, to fill. Simon crossed his arms and said, "If you'd been a little more patient, we could have talked her into the testing. There was no need for violence."

"You're wrong. I ain't got time to talk my crew into following orders."

"I can see that being true in some instances, in a battle for example, but for something like this I disagree."

Simon and Mal glared at each other for a few seconds. Frustrated with the whole thing Mal said, "Talkin' is overrated, and I'm done. Get in there and explain the testing before I decide you're in need some violence too."

Feeling his face heat up Simon hissed, "She may see you as a father figure, but let's be clear on the fact that I don't." Before Mal could answer, Simon opened the door to the infirmary, went in, and started talking to River.

Mal rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "Could'a fooled me."

Fifteen minutes later they had a plan for that night, and Mal left Simon alone with River to do a few small tests. Once Mal left, Simon gave his sister a serious look and said, "River?"

"Yes?"

Finding he had to look away, Simon said, "Were you…. Did you know what Mal was going to do before he did it?"

River didn't respond at first. After a couple of seconds, Simon looked at her and she said, "Every action or word down to the smallest twitch of a muscle or inflection of sound can produce a different outcome. Timelines branch off into limbs and then into twigs and then into leaves, both forward and backwards in time in my head. I can't always tell if I'm on the right leaf, but I know which limb I'm on."

Trying to understand, Simon said, "So there were a few different ways Mal could have reacted to what you said, and you didn't know exactly which one it would be?"

Cocking her head to one side and looking into the distance, River said, "By the time I told the Captain I wouldn't take the tests, there were only a couple of leaves left."

"So then you did know?"

River gave Simon a sad smile and put a hand on the side of his face. "This isn't a good limb. Jump with me to another."

Sighing because he could tell she didn't want to talk about it anymore, Simon nodded his acceptance. He held up two plastic brain wave monitors for her to see. They were both white and about the size of three quarters stacked together. He said, "Okay. Lie back, and let me put these monitors on your temples so we can get a baseline."

That night after River had gotten ready for bed, Simon came into her room with the monitors. River was sitting on her bed and said, "I don't want the monitors on. They were on half the day, and I won't be able to sleep."

Having heard her complaints about this all day was making Simon slightly irritable; "Yes you will be able to sleep. Just let me put these on your temples, and you can climb into bed."

He headed to her with the brain wave monitors in his hands. Frowning she said, "I don't like it."

"You've made that perfectly clear all day. Saying it again isn't going to change things. Mal and I agree that you need to do this tonight so that we can see what's going on."

She crossed her arms and sat still while Simon put the self-sticking monitors on her head. He smiled at her and said, "There, all done."

River complained, "I like it better when Kaylee's here."

"Me too, but she went to sleep in her own bunk tonight so that I could stay up and watch the information the monitors send out. Enough stalling now, time to try and get some sleep." 

Without much warning River stood up and hugged Simon tight. After a few seconds he hugged her back and said, "What's wrong mei mei?"

"Nothing. I… I just love you." she said as she let him go.

He beamed at her and said, "I love you too. Now get some rest okay?"

"Okay."

Once River was under the covers; Simon went out to the living area of their quarters and checked his computer screen to make sure the remote monitors were working. River's brain waves were normal for her in an awake state at this point. He pushed a button on the wall and called Mal who was on the bridge that night. "All set. She's in bed."

"Okay. Keep me posted."

Half an hour later Simon could tell by the brain waves that River was in the first stages of sleep. He watched the screen carefully and charted all the normal stages of sleep. She cycled through all four stages during the first hour and a half. Then fifteen minutes into her second cycle, Simon noticed a change in the brain waves, and thought she must have woken up, because the brain waves matched those of her awake state. He waited for her to start the cycle over again, but a minute later he heard her door open. He saw her walking out of her room and heading to the ladder. Simon said, "Did something wake you?"

She ignored him and went towards the hatch.

"River?" Still getting no response, Simon glanced back at the brain waves that were still coming to him and shook his head thinking something was very wrong. He pushed the button and called Mal. "She's up and unresponsive."

"I'm headed your way."

Simon glanced once more at the brain waves, and then headed up the ladder to follow River. He barely caught a glimpse of her as she turned the corner of the hall. He hurried to catch up with her, and as he turned the corner he saw her head into the infirmary. Mal had come from the other direction, and they met up in front of the infirmary door. They watched as River started digging through drawers. Mal said in a commanding voice, "River wake up!"

Simon put a hand on Mal's shoulder to get his attention and said, "Something's not right. Maybe she is being triggered somehow."

"What makes you say that?"

"Sleepwalking is most likely to occur during the fourth stage of sleep called delta sleep, but her brain waves don't match that at all. Her brain waves say she is in a normal waking state. I've never been able to check her brain waves after she's been triggered, but this could be an example of that."

"What would be the trigger?"

"I don't know. She was in her room alone. I didn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary. I thought maybe it was the dagger that you gave her, but Kaylee has it in her bunk tonight, and River didn't go to get it."

Mal saw that River now had a scalpel in her hand, and was looking at the exam table with a glare. Mal and Simon both watched while River jammed the scalpel into the exam table's cushion and gouged a large hole in it. Simon winced at his infirmary being wrecked and said, "Tzao gao."

After a second to think about what Simon had said, Mal had a theory. With a grim expression he walked towards River. Simon put a hand on his arm to stop him and said, "You shouldn't confront her when she's in this state. Especially when she's armed. Who knows what she'll do."

Mal put a hand on Simon's shoulder in reassurance and said, "The state she's in is awake. You said so yourself." With that statement in the air, Mal left Simon to think it over. River was cutting hole number twelve in the exam table when Mal walked over to her and said with calm anger, "You stop this right now River. The game is over."

She glared over at him and said, "It's not over until this table is destroyed."

Simon just stared at them; dumbfounded that Mal had been right, and that his sister had been doing this on purpose.

Mal held out his hand and said, "I say it's over. You're already in for a lickin' tonight for the fuss you've caused. Don't make it any worse. Hand over the scalpel."

With a grunt River jammed the scalpel into the table and left it there, giving Mal a defiant look. Simon started shaking his head at both of them, thinking the whole situation was somehow wrong.

With a determined look on his face, Mal turned River towards the table and bent her over it long enough to give her six hard swats. He pulled her up, turned her back to face him, and said, "Hand over the scalpel nicely."

River looked at the scalpel and then at Mal's hand, and seemed to be thinking it over.

Simon looked at the two of them facing off, and even though Mal was bigger, Simon knew that if River wanted to she could kill him with the scalpel before he had time to react. Simon said, "River please."

In unison Mal and River said, "Stay out of it."

After a couple of tense seconds, the defiance on River's face changed. She picked up the scalpel, placed it nicely in Mal's hand, and said with a pout, "No fair figuring out the game before I was done."

Setting the scalpel on the counter first, Mal grabbed River's arm and headed the two of them in the direction of the guest quarters. He said, "I don't know what you're playin' at little one, but it ends tonight."

Simon had backed out of their way so they could go through the door, and then followed closely behind them. The closer they got to their quarters, the more worried Simon got. He'd had two spankings from the Captain, and both of them were among his top ten worst experiences in life so far. He said, "Mal, I think you need to calm down a little bit. Maybe we should all sit down and talk about what happened. River must have some kind of explanation. She's a good kid, she wouldn't just…."

Before he could finish his sentence, River had yanked her arm out of Mal's grip, jumped and done a half turn in the air, and kicked Simon hard enough in the stomach to send him stumbling backwards onto the floor. With the wind knocked out of him, Simon looked up at River with tears of pain on his face and a look of betrayal in his eyes. River leaned down and said, "I told you to stay out of it."

Mal grabbed River by both shoulders and forced her to look at him. He gave her a look that had put fear in men twice her size and age, and said, "Go to your room and stay there 'till I get you." 

River shrugged and said, "Fine." She walked away calmly, pulled the monitors off her head, and dropped them on the floor as she went.

Mal watched while she opened the hatch to the guest quarters and went in. Mal kneeled down next to Simon and said, "Let me see."

Simon was finally able to breathe and said raggedly, "I'm fine."

"Then you won't have a problem letting me see."

Groaning Simon turned to his back and started to unbutton his shirt. Mal said, "Do you taste any blood? Feel like you're gonna upchuck?"

Simon shook his head and finished unbuttoning his shirt. Mal looked at the area River had kicked. He said, "Good thing she wasn't wearing shoes."

That statement was more then Simon could take, and he felt tears pooling in his eyes again, but these weren't tears of pain. He didn't understand why his sister would hurt him on purpose like that, especially after all the things he'd done to save her.

Mal didn't see any immediate discoloring, and thought that Simon should be fine in a few hours. He turned to look at Simon and could tell he was crying. Mal put a hand on Simon's shoulder and said gently, "Come on, let's get you more comfortable."

Mal helped Simon stand up, and kept an eye on him as he went down the ladder. Once they were inside with the hatch closed, Mal could tell Simon was still crying. He put his arm around Simon's shoulders in comfort and headed them both to the couch. Simon hated that he couldn't stop crying, and wiped at his face in anger.

Once they were both sitting, Mal put his elbows on his knees and said, "You're 'bout what? Eight? Nine years older then River?"

Sniffing and trying to calm down, Simon answered, "Nine."

"And when you were little, you helped watch over her."

"Of course."

"And for the past couple of years you've been takin' care of her every day."

Looking away as more tears formed Simon whispered, "Yes."

"And for a couple years before that, you were still trying to look over her by trying to get her out of the Academy against your parents wishes."

Simon nodded, not trusting his voice.

Mal paused and thought about that for a few seconds. Then he sighed and said; "The nine years between you make it hard for you to see the difference between older brother and parent. But River sees it, and she wants you to see it too. I'm sure it's gonna be hard for you Simon, but you need to let me be the Pa tonight. For whatever reason, she wants me to fill that role, and I'm guessing she'll do whatever it takes to make sure I do."

Shaking his head Simon said without conviction, "But I can't just sit here and let you hit her. I'm supposed to protect her."

"I'm thinkin' she can protect herself just fine. That's what she was tryin' to tell you with that kick."

Simon knew Mal was right, but just couldn't bring himself to agree. He looked down at his lap and watched a couple of tears drip onto his pants. He felt Mal pull him into a hug, and he couldn't talk himself into pulling out of it.

After a few minutes Mal said, "You go sleep in Kaylee's bunk tonight, and I'll stay here with River. Zoe can take over for me on the bridge."

"But I should be here for her in case she…."

Mal cut him off, "No. You shouldn't." Mal pulled away so he could look Simon in the eye. "I know I've only got five or six years on you, and I know you said you don't see me as a… a parental figure, but how about an older brother? Or if you can't see that, could you at least say that you trust me?"

Simon considered this for a few seconds, "I do trust you."

Nodding Mal continued, "I've had you over my knee twice, and you're no worse off for it. In fact, I'd have to say you're better off because of it. So trust me and let me be who she needs me to be. She's still gonna need you to be her big brother. That's never gonna change."

Simon looked over towards River's room, and then back at Mal. Reluctantly he agreed. "Okay."

Mal patted his shoulder and said, "Come on, let's go get you settled with Kaylee."

Mal stood and held out his hand to help Simon up. Once Simon was up he said, "I can get to Kaylee's by myself."

Mal followed Simon to the ladder and said, "I know you can."

Soon they were in the corridor with the crews quarters, and when Simon was in front of Kaylee's door he turned and said quietly, "I don't need a father or a big brother."

Mal patted his shoulder. "You're right, but that don't mean it wouldn't be nice to have one."

Before Simon could answer, Mal had knocked on Kaylee's door to warn her, and then opened it up to let Simon in. Kaylee's voice said, "Simon?"

Mal called down to her and said, "Simon's spending the night here. Keep an eye on his stomach; he's been kicked. Come get me if he spews. I'll be on the couch in the guest quarters for the night."

Simon shook his head as he started down the ladder and said, "I'll be fine."

Kaylee started fussing over Simon the second his feet touched the floor of her quarters, and Mal was sure he would be fine. He shut the hatch and walked over to Zoe's room. He knocked once and waited ten seconds. Zoe opened her hatch and said, "Sir?"

"I need you on the bridge tonight. I'll be in the guest quarters."

"Give me five minutes."

He nodded and walked back towards the guest quarters, knowing that Zoe had it covered. Once he got back to the guest quarters he had to take a deep breath before going and knocking on River's door. River quickly opened it and looked up at Mal. "Thank you for helping him understand."

Mal was seriously unhappy with River. He took her arm and pulled her to the couch. "There was better ways of getting' him to understand then kickin' him. It was mean, and he didn't deserve it."

Once they got to the couch Mal sat and pulled River over his lap. He said, "Give me your hands."

She put both her hands behind her, and Mal grasped both her wrists at the small of her back with one of his hands. Her pajamas consisted of a button down top, and matching pants with an elastic waist. Mal pulled the pants down along with her underwear in one move, and started spanking her with solid swats that left pink handprints in their wake. River lay perfectly still and silent for the first twenty swats.

Mal stopped and said, "Oh no you don't, no hiding yourself away inside that head of yours. You wanted to play this game, and you don't get to finish early. I want you in the here and now for this. You tell me why you deserve this lickin'."

River squirmed once, but didn't answer. Mal refused to keep spanking until he knew River was paying attention. He said, "Your brother put his life on hold for you, and you repay him by makin' him worry for three days, and then kickin' him in the gut?"

River could hide in her head forever if she wanted to. There was no amount of pain that could draw her out. But she hadn't exactly been trying to hide from Mal as much as she'd been lost in thoughts of the future and lost in Simon's thoughts and hurt feelings. She turned her head over her shoulder to look at Mal and there were silent tears running down her face. "I hurt him."

Mal nodded and started swatting again; "Yes you did, in more ways then one. Why was that wrong?"

River stayed in the now, and when Mal started spanking again River kicked her feet and yelled out, "Oooooww! I had to!"

"Why?"

"Because he wouldn't listen!"

Mal stopped for a second and said, "What do you mean he wouldn't listen? Wouldn't listen to what?"

River wiped her face on her shoulder and said with a loud sniff, "Wouldn't listen to you next time if this time hadn't happened first."

"I don't understand. What next time?"

"Next time he has to trust you."

"You ain't makin' sense River."

"Sometime soon he's going to need to trust both me and you, and there won't be time to talk him into it. I had to make sure it would be automatic."

"What's gonna happen?"

"I don't know."

"But you just said…"

"I don't know for sure yet, I just know he needs to trust you."

Glaring Mal said, "Of all the… So somethin' you ain't even able to see yet made you to do all of this? Pretendin' to sleepwalk, wreckin' things, hurtin' your brother… it's all part of getting' Simon to trust me, but you don't even know why?"

River looked back over her shoulder and said with irritation, "None of the other options went to the right leaf."

Not quite sure what River was talking about, Mal said, "You can't make sound decisions about things that may or may not happen later!"

"I can't feel a bad future and not try to fix it!"

Shaking his head Mal said, "You can't fix somethin' by manipulating us, and lyin' to us!"

River shook her head. "I never said I was sleepwalking. Belinda's the one who said that first."

Mal almost started swatting again, but realized before his hand came down that those swats would be given because he was angry and frustrated, and not because they would be helpful to River. Instead he quickly pulled up her underwear and pajama bottoms, picked her up off his lap, and sat her next to him on the couch.

With confusion and surprise clearly written on her face, River looked to Mal for some kind of explanation. Mal said, "I won't give you a lickin' if you don't think what you done was wrong."

River wiped some stray tears off her face and scrutinized Mal for a few seconds. "But you think it was wrong."

"Oh I know it was wrong. I just haven't found a way to convince you yet." Mal paused to think about it and then asked, "When did you first conjure up this plan?"

"During my birthday party."

"The sleepwalking was never real?"

River gave him a conspiratory smirk and said, "Not even when I was four." Her smile faded and she looked away. "But that was because I was bored. This time was for Simon."

"You think you made him worry and kicked him for his own good?"

River nodded.

"There are times when I can agree with hurtin' someone for their own good. This ain't one of them. You didn't just hurt Simon either, you had all of us worried with your lies."

River shook her head, "But I didn't…."

Mal held a hand up to stop her. "First thing you said to me after pretendin' to wake up was 'What happened?', but you already knew the answer. That there is a manipulative lie. You lied every time you were pretendin' to sleepwalk and ignored the questions that I know you heard. I already gave you a lickin' for lyin' once. Do you remember why lyin' is wrong?"

River felt her face heating up a little, and she squirmed for a second on the couch before she whispered, "Because if I lie, you won't trust me."

Mal could see the slight change in her demeanor, and thought that was a step in the right direction. "After three days of lyin', Simon's gonna have a hard time trustin' you for a while. I know I am."

A couple of tears went down her face and she said, "But I did it for Simon."

"Don't matter. He ain't gonna trust someone who lies to him."

River looked away and muttered, "He trusts me." And then connected with Simon's current thoughts and feelings, and could tell his feelings of betrayal were building. After a few seconds she turned back to Mal and said with worry, "But… but he has to trust me too!"

"You're gonna have to work at getting' that trust back." Mal sighed and said, "You should'a come to me River. You should'a told me that somethin' bad was gonna happen. You should'a told me that we needed to work on Simon's trust. Even if just talking to him wasn't enough, we could'a worked together to come up with somethin' that wouldn't have been as hurtful to him. You say you did this to get Simon to trust me, but if you'd trusted me enough to tell me about it in the first place, we could'a avoided a lot of pain for both of you."

River closed her eyes as more tears came out, and she shook her head while crawling back through time and creating different pasts that could have occurred to produce roughly the same present. She was unhappy to find a number of pasts that would have hurt Simon less and still ended with him trusting Mal.

Mal wasn't sure what River was doing, but let her be for a couple of minutes. Eventually she opened her eyes and looked at Mal pleadingly. "Three days ago I couldn't see those options. I picked the only option I could see."

"And now I have to pick the only option I can see."

Looking down River said, "A spanking was inevitable. It's proof that he trusts you."

Exasperated Mal said, "If you knew this was gonna happen, and it didn't make you change your mind, then I doubt it will be of any use!"

"But you have to!" 

"You want me to?"

Exasperated herself River said, "I don't want you to. I need you to."

"For Simon or for yourself?"

"Both."

"Do you think you deserve it?" Mal looked at River closely waiting for an answer. If she said no, he wouldn't be able to do it.

River blushed in shame. "I didn't before. But now…. Now I know it was wrong."

Mal took her hand and pulled her back over his lap. He pulled the underpants and pajama pants back down, and started swatting just as hard as before, thinking it would be plenty painful since her bottom was already a solid pink. He said, "Okay let's try this again. Tell me why you deserve this lickin'."

River's mindset was very much in the present this time. She regretted what she had done now that she could see that there had been other options, which would have hurt Simon less. The pain was immediate and made her cry out, "Ow! Ow! I deserve it for.. Ow!.. for lying! Ow Captain!"

Mal nodded and kept spanking. "And what else?"

She kicked her feet as the smacks kept raining down. Her voice was more desperate as she said, "Ooow! For.. Ow! For hurting Simoooon!! Aaaaah!!"

"And?"

River put both hands on Mal's thigh and tried to push herself forward, further away from his hand. Putting one arm around her waist, Mal hauled her back into place and kept swatting. River kicked harder and yelled, "I don't knooooooow!!" while reaching a hand back to cover her bottom.

Mal paused long enough to grab her wrist and pull it to the center of her lower back. He said, "For not trustin' me, especially since this whole thing started because you thought Simon needed to trust me."

He started swatting her again, and she called out, "I'm soooooorry!"

Nodding to himself, because he was sure she was sorry, Mal continued to swat her. He wanted to make sure she had a physical reminder of this for a few days to come, so that the lesson wouldn't get lost somewhere in her busy and jumbled mind.

Reading Mal's thoughts unintentionally, River called out, "I'll remember! Owwww! I wiiiiiiill! Captain I said I wiiiiiiill!"

When the swats didn't stop she hung her head and gave in to crying. She didn't have the air to yell anymore, but between sobs and gasps of air she said, "I'm sorry… Daddy I'm sorry."

Mal had only planned on giving her a few more swats once he heard the crying start, but was surprised into stopping when he heard her call him Daddy. Or at least he thought that's what he'd heard. She'd said it pretty quietly so he couldn't be completely sure. He let go of her hand and rubbed her back for a few minutes while she cried and he thought about it. In the end he decided it didn't matter if she'd said it or not, because that was the roll he was trying to fill right now.

"Okay let's get you upright."

Mal helped her stand up, and when she didn't make a move to fix her pants, he leaned down and pulled them up for her. He pulled her down to sit next to him on the couch and pulled her into a hug. He rubbed one hand up and down her back and said quietly, "Okay. It's all over now, and I know you're sorry for what you done."

Wrapping her arms around Mal's shoulders, River hugged him back tightly and let herself cry. After quite a few minutes she said, "I want Simon."

"Simon's sleepin' in Kaylee's bunk tonight, and he's already settled in. You can see him in the mornin'. I'm gonna stay here with you tonight."

Her crying was slowing down and she pulled out of Mal's embrace to see his face. "You're staying here to watch over me?"

"I am."

"Oh."

He gave her a smile and wiped some tears off her face with his thumbs. He said, "Go wash up, and then I'll tuck you in so you can get back to sleep."

She got up and both hands immediately went to her rear and rubbed. "Ow." She said with a pout, "It hurts a lot more then last time."

"You misbehaved a lot more then last time. Go on now, get ready for bed."

River went to wash up, and a few minutes later when she came out of the bathroom Mal got up and followed her to her bedroom. She got in under the covers, and Mal sat on the edge of her bed after she was settled. He said, "Next time you see something worrisome in the future you to tell me about it, even if you don't think that's the best solution to the problem. Dong ma?"

"Yes Captain."

"And first thing tomorrow, you're going to tell your brother that you're sorry for kickin' him, and makin' him worry."

"Okay."

He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Sleep tight. No more sleepwalkin'."

"I know." 

He got up and turned the lights off on the way. Before he shut her door she said, "Captain?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Smiling softly he said, "You're welcome."

The next morning Simon woke up and looked around confused for a second. He saw Kaylee, who was already awake, and said, "Morning."

She gave him a kiss and then said, "Mornin'. How's your innards?"

He pulled the covers down and looked at his stomach. There was no discoloration where he'd been kicked. Sitting up and wincing slightly, Simon said, "It's a little sore, but it will be fine. No internal damage."

"I can't believe she kicked you."

Simon didn't respond. The pain of her betrayal was too fresh in his mind. "I.. I need to go talk to her."

Kaylee sat up and gave Simon a quick hug. "I don't know what was goin' through her mind. Maybe she don't know either. But I do know she loves you."

Letting him go so she could look into his eyes, she said, "I know it in my heart, and I can see it in her eyes every time she tells me stories about you."

Leaning in, Simon gave her a quick kiss and whispered, "Thank you," before getting up to get dressed.

A few minutes later he was climbing down the ladder into his quarters, and saw that Mal was already awake and sitting on the couch. Before he even got off the ladder Simon asked, "How is she?"

Mal stood and said, "Ain't talked to her yet this mornin', but she was fine last night. We had a long talk and came to an understanding. How's your gut?"

"It's fine. What kind of understanding?"

Mal walked towards River's door and said, "She thought she was doin' the right thing, and I convinced her she wasn't."

He knocked on her door and called out, "River. Time to wake up. Simon's here."

Simon crossed his arms, hating the helpless feeling that came over him. Knowing what Mal had done, and hating him for doing it, but not exactly thinking he'd been wrong to do it all at the same time.

Mal saw Simon's look and walked over to him. He put a hand on Simon's shoulder and said, "I know you hate it, but it's what she needed. She even thanked me when it was done."

Shaking his head, and not quite believing that one, Simon was about to protest when a sleepy looking River came out of her room. She saw Simon and immediately went to him, giving him a fierce hug. "I'm so sorry I kicked you Simon." 

Mal decided it was time to make himself scarce. "I need to go… check on Zoe." He climbed up the latter and shut the hatch behind himself.

Simon ignored Mal's exit and hugged River back tightly. He was never able to stay angry with her for any significant length of time, and after hearing her apologize, he honestly meant it when he said, "It's okay."

River let him go, and had tears in her eyes when she said, "No. It's not. You always take care of me, and… and it was mean of me to kick you."

A couple of tears went down her face as she was talking. Simon pulled her back into a hug and said, "It wasn't nice, but I'm not mad about it anymore." After a pause he added, "It's not the first time you've kicked me you know."

She thought about it and said with confusion, "It's not?"

He let her go and said with a smile, "You kicked me a bunch of times when you were two. You understood everything, but you couldn't speak very well yet, and you'd get so frustrated when someone didn't understand what you were trying to say, you'd kick them."

She looked down, "Don't try to make me feel better."

Simon put a knuckle under her chin and made her look at him. "Well you did tell me to stay out of it last night. I just didn't want to listen."

"I'm sorry about the past three days too."

Simon found that a little less easy to forgive, and needed to know her reasoning. "Can you tell me why you did it?"

"We were on the wrong tree. All the branches turned into rotten leaves, so I had to find a new tree… But then after the Captain talked to me, I could see branches that were hidden before."

Shaking his head Simon said, "I don't understand."

"I knew things were going to go wrong in the future, and I needed to make sure that you had more trust in the Captain."

Simon shook his head even more, "So you're saying you did this for me?"

River nodded. Simon said with anger, "Instead of telling me things were going to go wrong, you lied to me? Lied to everyone? Made it all up like some kind of… elaborate game?"

Looking at him with pleading eyes she said, "I wanted to make you trust Mal the way you used to trust Daddy before he turned on us."

His anger went away, and left in it's place was just sadness. He said tiredly, "River, it's impossible for me to feel that way about anyone ever again."

River put a hand on his face and looked into his past with him. "Because Gabriel hurt you so much. You think if you trust someone again, they'll hurt you too, and that will kill you inside."

Uncomfortable with her reading him he took a few steps away and said, "I just… I just can't."

"Yes you can. You've already started; you just haven't accepted it yet. It's easier for me, because I've always had you to trust. Mal's a good Daddy… his name's a contradiction."

Cringing Simon said, "Don't say Mal and Daddy in the same sentence."

After a pause River said, "I am sorry for lying. And for making you worry."

Simon didn't necessarily agree with her methods, but knowing she had done it all to try and help him made it easier for him to forgive her. And he believed she was sorry. He knew he'd been sorry after both of the 'talks' he'd had with Mal. Instead of telling her he accepted her apology he raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you sorry for wrecking my exam table."

Looking away River mumbled, "I hate that table."

"I know you do, so you used this as an excuse to wreck it, didn't you?"

She crossed her arms defensively; "I don't see why that matters."

"I'm telling."

River gave him a confused look and watched as a smile formed on Simon's face. "Telling?"

"I'm going to go find dear old 'Captain Dad' and tell him you wrecked it on purpose just because you hated it."

River started to smile as well. It had been a long time, but this was familiar, and she remembered how to play. "Noooo, don't tell!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell."

"Because you love me."

He gave her an exaggerated sigh, pleased that she had remembered and given him her standard answer. "You're a brat."

"I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"Yeah? How?"

River thought about that one. The last time they'd played this out she'd been ten, and somehow the offer of letting Simon have the last popsicle didn't seem right anymore. But then even at ten she knew that Simon didn't actually want the last popsicle, he just wanted an excuse to forgive her. "I'll give you the chocolate I bought at our last stop."

Simon laughed at that and then said his usual line. "Okay, but only if you're really sorry about it."

"I am," she said with sincerity.

"Then I forgive you mei mei." 

She hugged him one more time and whispered, "Thank you for understanding."

"The part I don't understand is what's going to happen in the future? Why do you think I need to trust Mal?"

"I can't see that yet," she said as she pulled away from him.

Frowning with worry Simon said, "But you'll tell me when you do?"

"I'm hungry. Let's get ready for breakfast."

Simon didn't like that answer. He said, "River I…"

Ignoring him, River headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She wasn't sure if she would tell Simon about it once she was able to see what had been worrying her. That would depend on what that future was. But even if she didn't think she should, she knew would tell Mal about it.


End file.
